E&OE
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC HOBART – MORNINGS WITH LEON COMPTON
27 MAY 2026
Subjects: Capacity Investment Scheme, Renewable energy transition, Marinus Link
LEON COMPTON (HOST): The Federal Government has awarded two Tasmanian renewable energy projects – Weasel Plains Solar and Cellars Hills Wind Farm – a 15 year federal revenue guarantee under a Capacity Investment Scheme, so for 15 years you’ve got an idea what your base level of revenue might be, which, if you’re going to the bank and asking for money to throw into a project, I would imagine would be pretty helpful in terms of getting the loans that you need to then start building. So, how much closer does it make these two projects for Tasmania? How significant is it? The two projects have a combined value of up to $1.5 billion, and the capacity between them to generate up to 500 megawatts of clean, reliable energy, which to convert into something we might understand, 160,000 homes. Josh Wilson, Federal Labor MP, Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy, joins us. Josh Wilson, Good morning to you.
JOSH WILSON: Good morning, Leo. Nice to be with you.
COMPTON: Why have you decided to support these two projects?
WILSON: Well, it’s part of the energy transition we’re making Australia-wide. We want Australia’s energy future to be stable and self-reliant. We obviously want it to be based on clean and cheaper energy, and we are supporting the deployment of renewable projects around the country, and of course, that includes Tasmania. So, this most recent round, Tender seven, of the capacity investment scheme includes two projects in Tasmania, near Bothwell, I understand, as you’ve described, a wind farm, Cellars Hill Wind Farm, and Weasel Solar Farm, about 540 megawatts in total, and, as you say, enough renewable energy to power 160,000 Tasmanian homes, so we think that that’s pretty good, and it will come with 500 direct construction jobs and 22 permanent roles once the projects are up and running.
COMPTON: On 936 ABC Hobart and ABC Northern Tasmania. Just briefly, how does the scheme work? Is it effectively a revenue guarantee that you can take to the bank when you’re looking for investors.
WILSON: Yeah, you’ve described it pretty well, actually. I mean, you can imagine for any business, you think about what your investment will be, and then how that will be sustained by revenue going forward, and what the Capacity Investment Scheme does is it says that the Commonwealth will underwrite the low side. So, if there’s less revenue than might be anticipated, the Commonwealth will cover some of that, but as part of the agreement, and this is important, there’s also the capacity for the Commonwealth and taxpayers to receive a share of the revenue that goes above a certain ceiling. Projects bid in on that basis, and then they go through a thorough independent assessment process before they are selected, and in that way, without taxpayers having to put grant funding or direct capital funding into projects, we are seeing $17 billion worth of private investment across all the 19 projects in this tender, and $1.5 billion of investment going into the two projects that are in Tasmania.
COMPTON: 936 ABC Hobart, ABC North Tas, Josh Wilson MP, our guest this morning, Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy. We’re talking about two farms, Weasel Plains Solar, Cellars Hill Wind in central Tasmania, that are on the drawing board at the moment. And of course, for the locals there, that brings its own questions, opportunities, and challenges. Assistant Minister, I want to play you Anthony Archer, local farmer and councillor, who spoke to us about this yesterday.
ANTHONY ARCHER [recorded]: If you look at the positives, there’s a lot of employment, not just ongoing, but during the development phase, those people are going to require a lot of services. If, let’s say I think there’s over 300 people forecast to be involved, certainly in the first stage of one of the developments, they’re going to require medical services, they’re going to require access, and it’s important that that’s well catered for.
COMPTON: Minister, what you’re hearing a local say there is what’s in this for us. We can see the money going to international companies in this case, and their local operators, putting them in. Can we have a new doctor? Could we have improvements to the roads in our community? What guarantees are there, if any, about that?
WILSON: Well, first of all, taxpayer money isn’t going to the companies who are making the investment that I described. It’s a revenue guarantee. They’re making the investment. We cover the downside if they don’t meet their revenue, [interrupted]
COMPTON: But effectively you’re bankrolling their business case, or you’re underpinning their business case. What’s in it for locals?
WILSON: Well, we’re underwriting it, and of course, if the revenue exceeds what they estimate, then actually there’ll be a return to taxpayers. But what’s in it for Tasmania is a cleaner and cheaper energy future, a secure energy future, and the opportunity to develop new green industries off that. The potential in Tasmania is really, really significant around some of those things, and I think in terms of training and job opportunities, that’s something that Tasmanians would look forward to. The scale of the investment will make a difference to the local economy. Those 500 jobs will make a difference. The ongoing jobs will make a difference. I mean, I think that around the country, as we move into the 21st century, seeing these new industries and these new investments and opportunities is actually what we want to see in every part of the community, and I can only imagine that Tasmania, like New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, all the other parts of the National Energy Market want to have their share of what is the defining industrial and technological transformation of the 21st century.
COMPTON: Josh Wilson, we’ve got to go. But final question, does this underpin then the case for Marinus Link in your mind?
WILSON: Well, they’re all tied together. Marinus Link is an important project. It was great to get to final investment decision between the governments last year. We now go through the licensing project process. It’s another important way that we that we scale up and emphasise the potential that Tasmania has for itself and to contribute to that national energy task.
COMPTON: Appreciate you talking with us this morning. Thank you.
WILSON: Thanks, Leon.
ENDS
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