Committee for Ballarat chief executive Melanie Robertson, who has previously managed the 128 turbine Waubra Wind Farm, said renewable energy must be part of the Australia’s energy plans.

“I think we need a complete suite of energy and there is no single solution,” she said. 

“Pumped hydro is a great supplier and so is battery storage from wind.”

Ms Robertson said renewable technologies have the same capability as other power sources to meet the supply shortages experienced at peak times. 

“We are still in need extra supply into the system and it is really expensive to continually build for that peak because it is such a short period of time,” she said. 

“Batteries can work effectively and we can store that energy; solar and wind are no different to coal power, they are all just energy.” 

The federal government has backed down from chief scientist Alan Finkel’s recommendations in a report in December last year.

It has set a precedent for the future energy mix and the success of renewables in Ballarat according to energy experts.

The Ballarat region was tipped to be the wind farm capital of Victoria.

The federal government announced the National Energy Guarantee will replace the Clean Energy Target and marks a new direction in energy policy for Australia. 

The new policy removed subsidies for renewable energy technologies and aimed to meet market demand for power.

It required retailers to draw a percentage of their supply from ‘on demand’ sources such as coal, gas, pumped hydro and batteries.

The new federal direction on power supply could be at odds with the state government, which was working toward lowering emissions by 15 to 20 per cent on 2005 levels by 2020.

This required 25 per cent of energy production in the state to come from renewable sources.