The Hon Chris Bowen MP, the Federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy delivered a keynote speech to a packed auditorium at the Gippsland Performing Arts Centre, Traralgon on the second day of the Gippsland New Energy Conference 2024
4 September 2024 Minister Bowen’s Speech (extracts)
“My goal since becoming Minister has been to make the transition faster and more orderly.
In no small part because this is the best way of giving regions like yours the best shot at maximising the massive economic opportunities of this transition.
This transition plays to your strengths and knowledge about electricity generation, workforces, supply chains and how the agriculture and energy industries can, and should, coexist.
I’ve talked a bit this morning about the need for an orderly transition.
And the key to an orderly transition is certainty.
This region needs jobs.
Jobs need investment. Investment needs certainty.
It’s a simple as that.
Our policies are designed to create that certainty.
Certainty as to our destination. And certainty as to our road map to get there.”
During the minister’s speech he made a number of announcements regarding renewable energy projects across Australia and to the delight of the audience the announcements included major projects in Gippsland.
“One of the projects supported in the recent Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) auction is Energy Australia’s Wooreen Energy Storage System, will be built here at the Jeeralang Power Station just out of Morwell. The 350 MW utility-scale battery can power over 400,000 households for up to 4 hours at a time.
It’s scheduled to be operational in 2027 and will employ 80 people, and rely on local suppliers.
“It means between this and the Hazelwood Solar Farm batteries, both within a 10km radius of where we are now, there’s the equivalent of a mid-sized coal fired power station worth of energy at your fingertips, ready to go. Construction will start in a couple of months and provide jobs for up to 500 people working across specialties including building, engineering, site maintenance and agrisolar, setting the site up to accommodate the sheep that will share the land.
“Now, you don’t need me to tell you: Gippsland is at the heart of our new energy transition.”
Link to read the full Speech from Minister Bowen to GNEC24
