The Australia Institute welcomes the Victorian Parliament passing Government legislation giving the Minister for Energy the power to fast-track the building of transmission infrastructure necessary to ensure reliability of supply.

“Last night the Victorian Parliament gave the Energy Minister the power to lead where COAG Energy Council is too slow and quickly upgrade Victoria’s electricity transmission network to maintain reliability,” said Dan Cass, Energy Policy & Regulatory Lead at the Australia Institute.

“Despite COAG agreeing that Australia needs to quickly improve interconnections between states and build new transmission to Renewable Energy Zones, the project approval process is moving at a snail’s pace. 

“Victoria can now move ahead and implement solutions that will bring more renewables into its electricity market and improve connections between states, which will help reduce Victorian power prices.” 

The National Electricity (Victoria) Amendment Bill 2020 amended the National Electricity (Victoria) Act 2005.