Melbourne Renewable Energy Project 2

The applicants are Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and seven other diverse entities (the Applicants). The Applicants sought authorisation to jointly negotiate the terms and conditions of certain electricity sale agreements and to conduct a collective tender process (Melbourne Renewable Energy Project 2). This involves establishing a joint electricity purchasing group, whereby the applicants would pool their electricity demand and place a single tender into the market calling for proposals for an electricity supply arrangement and an equivalent quantity of large-scale generation certificates (LGCs) from a specific renewable energy project connected to the National Electricity Market. It is expected that the winning tenderer would enter into Retail Service Agreements with each applicant, purchasing electricity generation from the NEM. The winning tenderer would also enter into a LGC Supply Agreement with each applicant purchasing an equivalent quantity of LGCs from a specific renewable energy project. This would collectively support the development of a new 'utility-scale' renewable-energy system connected to the National Electricity Market. The system must be capable of supplying a quantity of carbon neutral electricity into the NEM that is equivalent to the quantity purchased by the applicants.

On 21 November the ACCC issued a draft determination proposing to grant authorisation to the arrangements for a period of 15 years and also granted interim authorisation to allow the Applicants to conduct the proposed tender process prior to the ACCC making its final determination, but not enter into any supply agreements.

On 18 December 2019, the ACCC released a final determination granting authorisation for 15 years. A copy of this determination is available below.