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MinterEllison advises on VRET2 auction
MinterEllison has advised its longstanding client, the Victorian government, on energy and climate change projects.
Keonia Swift
Firms: MinterEllison (Victoria’s Department of Environment)
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Deal: MinterEllison has advised the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) of Victoria on the design and implementation of the second Victorian Renewable Energy Target reverse auction system (VRET2).
Value: Undisclosed
Area: Corporate
Key players: Fiona Lewis (special counsel) and Kylie Diwell (partner) led the team at MinterEllison that advised DELWP. Peter Block (partner), Sean Bradley (partner), Bastian Gasser (partner), Warwick Lindsay (special counsel), Joel Reid (partner), Alexandra Consiglio (associate), Ryan Gale (associate), Francis Meehan (associate), and Emily Johnson (associate) rendered assistance.
Deal significance: MinterEllison advised the Victorian government on the design of the support agreements, the negotiation of support agreements, the conduct and risk mitigation of the competitive tender process, as well as the compliance and transparency of the competitive tender process. The program offers investment assurance for the development of new energy generation projects.
VRET2 seeks to ensure that 40 per cent of the state’s electricity is generated from renewable sources by 2025 and 50 per cent by 2030. The Victorian government awarded commercial contracts to support over 623 megawatts of new solar energy capacity, including four large batteries, through the reverse auction program.
With a competitively sourced contract for difference for electricity, VRET2 will increase the amount of energy that can be made from renewable sources, meet emissions reduction goals set by the Climate Change Act 2017 (Victoria), and protect the state from high wholesale electricity prices.
“We’ve worked in close partnership with DELWP on many key Victorian government energy and climate change initiatives, and we are very proud to have advised on the VRET2 reverse auction for Victoria,” said Ms Lewis.
“During a time of challenging industry market conditions, we assisted the Victorian government in designing and implementing the reverse auction process, which achieves both private sector commitment and a value for money outcome for the state.”
