Adding momentum to the sector two years ago, Victoria limited the setbacks around wind farms to one kilometre, reducing the two-kilometre zone within which land holders could previously veto a proposal.

For WestWind, the Victorian initiatives are helpful but they are not core to the project's business case.

Indeed, for chief executive Tobias Geiger, the Golden Plains project must stand on its own merits, particularly when energy policy is at the mercy of politicians.

"Renewable energy needs to be an adult now in the energy sector," Mr Geiger told The Australian Financial Review.

Cost of traditional energy

"That means the less we rely on any government support scheme, the less the risk is of an adverse impact on the investors long-term from a change in regulations."

What makes the massive Golden Plains stack up for WestWind, which has developed other Victorian projects, is the rising cost of traditional energy.

In its business case for the project, WestWind did not ascribe a value for the large-scale generation certificates – a form of renewable energy certificate – that the project will generate.


"At that moment our cost of energy is closer to half the market price, because the market price has finally gone to levels that are actually reflective of the true cost of generation with a mix of generators," Mr Geiger said.

Until more recently, wholesale energy prices were relatively subdued, as costs reflected old, fully written-off, coal-fired power stations without taking into account the cost of their replacement, he said.

"Now that some of them get mothballed because they are just too old to keep them running commercially viably, the market price has bounced up," he said.

"It is now at levels where investment in new generation capacity actually makes sense again."

Even so, Mr Geiger is keeping a watching brief on the energy debate, as uncertainty lingers over the future of the Finkel Review's clean energy target, and debate rumbles on over extending the life of coal-fired clunkers such as AGL Energy's Liddell plant.

"What we are more afraid of is government doing really stupid things by propping up old coal-fired power stations for them to operate longer," he said.

"That may dilute the market price to a point where investment for the private sector becomes unattractive.

"That would then leave potentially stranded assets, but more importantly would actually lock out Australia out from the energy transition for a bit longer."