WIND tower manufacturer Keppel Prince is ready to boost its workforce with 40 new jobs before Christmas and hundreds more in coming years.
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Premier Daniel Andrews announced a renewable energy policy “reset” in Portland on Friday, and Keppel Prince general manager Steve Garner said it gave the business certainty.
The policy sets a renewable energy target of 20 per cent by 2020, plans to use the government’s buying power to ensure renewable energy is sourced from within Victoria in an effort to increase demand and drive new investment.
Mr Garner said the policy would mean a jobs boost across the south-west region.
“The south-west is where the majority of wind farms in the state are to be built and I think it’s going to create enormous amounts of jobs across the region,” Mr Garner said.
“Best case scenario is we can get back to the 500 (staff) we had in 2008 – probably a multiplier of four times that number hang off the back of what we do. We are confident we will get to that stage.”
The Premier unveiled “Victoria’s Renewable Energy Roadmap” with Energy and Resources Minister Lily D’Ambrosio at Keppel Prince’s Portland base and said it would re-build the state reputation as the nation’s leader in the sector.
“This is basicly a reset,” Mr Andrews said.
“The roadmap is a very different policy, a new policy, to make sure that we’ve got a bright future for the renewable energy sector.”
“We are not just going to talk about renewable energy, we are going to buy renewable energy. The Victorian Government, through the power of our purchase, will purchase at least 100 megawatts of renewable power. That basically equates to $200 million worth of investment.
“We think that it will fuel demand, 50 towers worth of wind energy demand, each year over the next few years.”
Ms D’Ambrosio said the government was making sure money from renewable energy projects was reinvested in Victoria.
“This one announcement today will not only deliver $200 million worth of investment, but it will also deliver 1000 direct and indirect jobs during the construction phase,” she said.
Opposition spokesman for renewables David Southwick said the Premier did not announce a single new job and the 20 per cent target was political grand-standing.
“This is not a roadmap. It's just a roundabout of rhetoric without real action from Daniel Andrews,” he said.
