By AIDAN KNIGHT
ENERGY Minister, Lily D’Ambrosio made the most of ceremony in her visit to the Latrobe Valley on September 4, finishing her trip with the official opening of the new battery energy storage system in Morwell.
In partnership with Tilt Renewables, the Minister for the SEC cut the ribbon on a 100 megawatt, 200 megawatt-hour battery which had been under construction for 18 months on the site behind the Hazelwood open cut.
The Minister praised the project’s swift conclusions, proclaiming it a pivotal moment in the region’s energy transition, in a “strategic location”.
The milestone came against a backdrop of instability in the Valley’s ageing coal fleet, with Yallourn’s Unit 1 tripping that morning and Unit 2 already offline, leaving the plant running at reduced capacity as smoke plumed from the stacks.
Tilt merged with the Powering Australian Renewables Fund in 2022, making it the largest private developer and generator of renewable electricity in Australia.
Tilt Renewables Chief Executive, Anthony Fowler has described the battery as a valuable addition to the company’s nation-leading portfolio of wind and solar generation.
“Together, we’ve built a system that will play a vital role in Australia’s energy transition,” he said.
“We’re proud to invest in the Latrobe Valley and contribute to its transformation into a hub for clean energy innovation.”
The ribbon cutting took place in the existing Morwell terminal station, as Tilt Chief Development Officer, Laurent Francisci, spoke on how much work the collaborators have put into “this crucial role” of the legislated energy capacity targets put in place by the state government. The goal is to have effective storage of 2.6 gigawatts by 2030, and for that capacity to expand to at least 6.3 gigawatts by 2035, the same year Loy Yang A is slated for closure.
“The Latrobe Valley has been the beating heart of Victoria’s energy generation for over a century,” Mr Francisci addressed the crowd.
“The Valley became home to major power generation plants. These facilities not only powered homes and industries, they also built communities, trained generations of workers, and forged a proud identity rooted in energy innovation.
“Today, as we open this new beast, we stand on the shoulders of that legacy. The Latrobe Valley is once again leading the way, and this time into a cleaner, more sustainable energy future.”
Victoria is already the leading state in battery renewables, with 12 large-scale energy storage systems existing or in development around the state. Other areas with storage capabilities comparable to the Morwell’s terminal station are Moorabool (300mw Victorian Big Battery) and Plumpton (600 MW Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub).
Those attending may have speculated Ms D’Ambrosio borrowed her speechwriter from the American President, as she began her address with the words, “I love batteries, I love big batteries, I think we all love big batteries.”
Photographs: Aidan Knight
The Minister had turned the first sod on the very same site in late 2023, and learnt from her previous visit that the best way to win over the locals is to appeal to the sentimentality they have with the industry being the core of their history.
“Utilising the infrastructure that has been built up here in the Latrobe Valley over 100 years, optimising the utility of the existing infrastructure, makes a lot of sense. It needs to be and will be a part of the future”, she said.
But the fanfare was short-lived. Just a week later, the Minister faced criticism at the Gippsland New Energy Conference, where union leader Andy Smith accused her of neglecting coal power workers directly affected by the transition.
“She did what she did and met with who she met with, but didn’t go out to Yallourn, or Loy Yang A or B. I just wonder how difficult it would have been to take an extra hour out of your day and visit some of those power workers (impacted by the transition to renewables). That’s recognition, and that’s what doesn’t happen,” he said.
The Express was made aware the Minister also had a window of opportunity between her SEC one stop shop address in Newborough that morning and the Morwell ribbon-cutting two hours later, having cancelled a scheduled visit to a local heat pump manufacturer in between. That pump manufacturer turned out to be Earthworker Energy, whose operations manager, Adam Monument, was seated next to Mr Smith on that very same panel at the new energy conference, only sharpening the reproach.
“She doesn’t go where the hard questions will find her,” Mr Smith said of the Minister, and received scattered applause from the audience for this perspective on the transition last week.
The Hazelwood project provided a short-term boost to the region’s workforce, with 45 direct and 240 indirect jobs created during construction, and three ongoing roles to support operations.
Delivery partners included Fluence, AusNet, AEMO, Zenviron, Wilson Transformers, and local firms such as TwoMorrows Electrical and LAI.
The Morwell battery may signal the future of Victoria’s energy system, but as union voices reminded, the path from coal to renewables remains fraught with questions about recognition, jobs, and community in the Latrobe Valley, and these are all at the forefront of the conversation locally.
