Many businesses today choose sustainable practices to reduce their environmental impact and save money. One way to do this is by focusing on energy efficiency and saving energy.
The Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU) program is a government initiative that helps businesses adopt energy-efficient solutions and offers financial benefits through Victorian Energy Efficiency Certificates (VEECs).
So what VEECs and how can they save your business money? Let’s find out.
About Victorian Energy Upgrades
The Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU) program, previously known as the Victorian Energy Efficiency Target (VEET), is one of Victoria’s most effective programs for reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.
Created by the Victorian Government, the program encourages homes and businesses to use energy-efficient technologies and practices.
It offers financial incentives to reduce the upfront costs of energy-efficient upgrades, making them more affordable and accessible for everyone in Victoria.
How the Program Works
The VEU program is based on a system of Victorian Energy Efficiency Certificates (VEECs). Each VEEC equals one tonne of greenhouse gas emissions saved through approved energy-saving activities.
Accredited providers, like Cyanergy, carry out these activities. Examples include:
- Replacing old, inefficient lighting with LED lights.
- Installing energy-efficient appliances.
- Upgrading insulation.
- Adding renewable energy systems like solar hot water.
For each upgrade, providers generate VEECs and pass savings to consumers through discounts or rebates.
Energy retailers in Victoria must buy and submit a certain number of VEECs each year to meet legal emissions reduction targets. This drives energy-saving projects and promotes efficient technologies in homes, businesses, and industries.
Benefits of the Program
The VEU program offers several advantages:
Lower Costs: Households and businesses save on energy bills using less energy.
Environmental Benefits: The program reduces greenhouse gas emissions, supporting Victoria’s climate goals.
Economic Growth: By boosting demand for energy-efficient products, it supports local businesses, creates jobs, and promotes innovation in green technology.
Accessibility: Financial incentives make participating easier for low-income households and small businesses.
Program Scope and Eligibility
The program includes various energy-saving activities for homes and businesses, such as:
- Switching old halogen or incandescent lights to energy-efficient LEDs.
- Installing efficient heating, cooling, and ventilation systems.
- Upgrading appliances like refrigerators and freezers to energy-saving models.
- Improving building insulation and sealing to prevent energy loss.
- Adding renewable energy solutions, such as solar hot water systems.
Participants range from individual households to large businesses, ensuring the benefits of energy efficiency reach all parts of the community.
What are Victorian Energy Efficiency Certificates (VEECs)?
VEECs are digital certificates representing the savings of 1 tonne of greenhouse gas emissions (measured as CO2 equivalent) through energy-saving actions by homes and businesses.
These certificates are part of the VEU program, run by the Essential Services Commission.
Businesses can earn VEECs by adopting energy-saving methods like upgrading lighting, adding solar panels, or improving heating and cooling systems (HVAC).
These certificates make energy-efficient products and activities more affordable, helping businesses cut costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
How Victorian Energy Efficiency Certificates Work?
Victorian Energy Efficiency Certificates (VEECs) are part of the Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU) program, which started in 2009 to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from energy use by encouraging energy efficiency.
To be part of the VEU program, energy-saving products must be approved and listed in the program’s Register of Products. This involves an application and approval process.
Accredited providers must carry out installations and energy-saving activities to generate VEECs.
Common ways to earn VEECs include:
- Upgrading lighting in commercial buildings.
- Improving heating and cooling systems (like water heaters and air conditioners).
- Switching to high-efficiency appliances like fridges, pool pumps, and clothes dryers.
- Insulation or low-flow showerheads should be added for better energy use in homes.
Lighting upgrades have been the main source of VEECs so far. However, many lighting products have recently been removed from the program’s approved list so that more certificates will come from other energy-saving activities.
Under the VEU scheme, energy retailers must participate if they sell large amounts of gas or electricity in Victoria. Retailers are considered responsible if they either:
- Serve at least 5,000 customers.
- Sell over 30,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity.
- Sell over 350,000 gigajoules (GJ) of gas.
How Are VEEC Prices Determined?
How VEECs Are Generated?
The number of VEECs created by an energy efficiency project is directly tied to the amount of greenhouse gas emissions it saves.
For example, upgrading a building’s lighting or installing a solar hot water system reduces energy use, which lowers emissions.
Each tonne of emissions saved is converted into one VEEC, making these certificates a measurable representation of environmental benefits.
Who Buys VEECs?
Several entities participate in the VEEC market, including:
Energy Retailers: These companies have legal obligations under the VEEC Act. Their liability is calculated based on the total energy (electricity or gas) they sell yearly.
To meet these obligations, they must purchase and submit a specific number of VEECs annually.
Accredited Persons: Businesses or individuals accredited under the VEU program for energy efficiency upgrades may purchase VEECs to meet project requirements or manage their commitments.
Certificate Traders: These entities act as intermediaries, buying and selling VEECs to ensure smooth market functioning.
Other Account Holders: Any organisation or individual with a VEU account can trade or hold VEECs, often for financial or compliance purposes.
How Are VEEC Prices Set?
Like other environmental certificates across Australia, VEEC prices are determined by market dynamics. The spot price, or current market price, changes based on:
Supply: The availability of VEECs depends on the completion and creation of energy-saving projects and certificates. If more projects are implemented, the supply of VEECs will increase.
Demand: Demand comes primarily from energy retailers meeting their legal obligations and others trading VEECs. Prices may rise if demand is high (e.g., due to increasing energy retailer liabilities or growing participation in energy efficiency programs).
Market forces, regulatory changes, and technological advancements can significantly affect supply and demand, causing the spot price of VEECs to fluctuate.
How VEECs Help Beat Energy Prices?
VEEC prices impact:
Consumers: Higher VEEC prices may translate to better rebates and discounts for households and businesses adopting energy-efficient upgrades.
Energy Retailers: Rising VEEC costs increase compliance expenses, which may influence consumer energy prices.
Market Stability: A healthy balance between supply and demand ensures a stable VEEC price, supporting continued participation in the program and fostering investment in energy efficiency projects.
Understanding these price dynamics helps stakeholders decide about energy efficiency investments and trading strategies.
Benefits of VEECs for Your Business
Victorian Energy Efficiency Certificates (VEECs) can provide several advantages for businesses, especially those with high energy consumption in Victoria.
These benefits include cost savings, faster returns on investment, and opportunities for further improvements in energy efficiency.
Lower Upfront Costs
VEECs act as financial incentives, reducing the initial costs of energy-saving upgrades. When a project generates VEECs, businesses can apply the value of these certificates as a discount on the capital costs of upgrades like:
- Replacing inefficient lighting with LEDs.
- Upgrading HVAC systems or insulation.
- Installing solar hot water or other renewable solutions.
This makes energy-efficient upgrades more affordable and easier to implement.
Faster Payback Periods
Reinvestment Opportunities
The financial savings generated by energy-efficient upgrades can be reinvested into additional projects. For example:
- After upgrading to energy-efficient lighting, a business might use the savings to install renewable energy systems like solar panels.
- This cycle of reinvestment helps businesses continuously improve energy efficiency and further reduce operational costs.
Tailored Benefits for High-Energy Consumers
Environmental and Reputation Benefits
Adopting energy-saving measures and participating in the VEEC program enhances your business’s reputation. Customers and stakeholders increasingly value companies that prioritise sustainability and take steps to reduce their carbon footprint.
If your business is in Victoria and consumes substantial electricity, gas, or both, participating in the VEU program and earning VEECs can be a smart move for your operations and bottom line.
How can VEECs make your business more energy efficient?
VEECs (Victorian Energy Efficiency Certificates) can make your business more energy-efficient by helping you identify energy-saving opportunities and implementing upgrades.
With expert support, you can reduce energy use, lower operating costs, and improve sustainability while benefiting financially.
To generate VEECs, you need to work with an Accredited Provider. Cyanergy is an Accredited Provider under the Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU) program and offers assistance in creating VEECs through eligible energy projects.
Your Solution Is Just a Click Away
The post What Are VEECs and How Can They Save Your Business Money? appeared first on Cyanergy.
https://cyanergy.com.au/blog/what-are-veecs-and-how-can-they-save-your-business-money/
Weather Guard Lightning Tech
Australia’s $17B Grid Expansion, Recycling Blades to Steel
Allen covers Suzlon hitting 2 GW in a single Indian state, Nabrawind’s crane-free turbine install in Namibia, Antora’s South Dakota thermal battery, Australia’s $17 billion grid expansion, and Shimizu recycling old turbine blades into steel.
Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly email update on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard’s StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary Barnes’ YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us!
GOOD MORNING.
The wind industry is not just getting bigger.
It is getting smarter.
And today … we have the proof.
Let us start in India.
SUZLON GROUP just crossed a milestone.
Two gigawatts of wind orders … in a single Indian state.
The latest deal … sixty-five turbines at three megawatts each
for a company called SUNSURE ENERGY.
SUNSURE is not a utility.
It is an independent power producer
building round-the-clock clean energy
for data centers … electric vehicles … and heavy industry.
Wind paired with solar and battery storage.
Power that does not stop when the sun goes down.
SUZLON is already building six hundred and sixty-four megawatts
of additional commercial and industrial projects in the same region.
And SUNSURE … backed by PARTNERS GROUP of Switzerland …
has seven gigawatts in development across India
with a target of ten gigawatts by two thousand thirty.
That is not government-led.
That is private capital chasing wind.
Now … across the ocean to Africa.
A Spanish company called NABRAWIND [NAH-brah-wind]
just solved a problem that has plagued remote wind farms for years.
How do you install a turbine
when you cannot get a crane to the site?
Their answer is a system called SKYLIFT.
No heavy-lift cranes. None.
A self-erecting tower combined with a blade installation tool
they call the BLADERUNNER.
They just put up a GOLDWIND six-megawatt turbine
at a wind farm in NAMIBIA.
And here is the part that changes the math.
Traditional crane installation needs calm air.
Six to eight meters per second. Maximum.
NABRAWIND’s system works in fifteen meters per second sustained …
with gusts up to twenty.
That site blows hard. All the time.
Which is exactly why they chose it.
When complete … seven turbines …
two hundred and thirty gigawatt-hours a year.
About six percent of NAMIBIA’s entire electricity demand.
NABRAWIND was acquired by Australia’s FORTESCUE last year
as part of its industrial decarbonization push.
So India is stacking private-sector wind orders.
Africa is installing turbines without cranes.
And in SOUTH DAKOTA …
they are storing the wind itself.
A California startup called ANTORA ENERGY
just built a five-gigawatt-hour thermal battery
at an ethanol plant in BIG STONE CITY.
More than two hundred solid carbon blocks.
When the wind blows at night and nobody needs the power …
the blocks absorb cheap electricity and heat up.
When the plant needs energy …
the blocks release heat or generate electricity
through special cells that capture light
from superheated material.
Think of it as a giant toaster oven battery.
Full power expected by October.
The plant’s president put it simply.
Nobody has got a switch for the wind.
It blows when it wants to blow.
Now … down under.
The AUSTRALIAN government just announced
the biggest single expansion of its electricity grid.
Nineteen renewable energy projects.
Seven-point-eight gigawatts of generation.
Seven-point-nine gigawatt-hours of battery storage.
Seventeen billion dollars in private investment.
Nineteen thousand construction jobs.
Power for four million homes.
Among the largest … RWE’s [arr-vay’s] THEODORE wind farm in QUEENSLAND.
One-point-one gigawatts. Up to one hundred and seventy turbines.
Three billion Australian dollars.
RWE … the same company building offshore wind
in England and Denmark …
is now building onshore in AUSTRALIA.
And the AUSTRALIAN government is not stopping.
They just opened the next round of tenders.
Another five gigawatts.
Finally … JAPAN.
Major contractor SHIMIZU [shee-MEE-zoo] CORPORATION
has developed a way to recycle old wind turbine blades.
Not into park benches. Not into landfill.
Into steel.
The blades are cut and crushed into a material
that goes into electric furnaces
to adjust the carbon content of steel …
making it harder and stronger.
JAPAN expects to replace one hundred to two hundred turbines a year
by the two thousand thirties.
That is two to three thousand tonnes of blade waste. Annually.
SHIMIZU has built about twenty percent
of the wind power facilities in JAPAN.
They see this technology as a way to grow
their entire wind energy business.
So … let us step back.
India stacks two gigawatts of private-sector wind orders.
Africa installs turbines in gale-force winds … without a crane.
South Dakota stores surplus wind in superheated carbon blocks.
Australia backs nineteen projects with seventeen billion dollars.
And Japan turns old blades into stronger steel.
From the factory floor to the scrap yard …
from the wind farm to the furnace …
the industry is solving problems
at every stage of a turbine’s life.
And that’s the state of the wind industry for the 25th of May 2026.
Join us for the UPTIME WIND ENERGY PODCAST tomorrow.
We’ve all heard ideas like the one being expressed here, though this one sounds extreme. Jail sentence? Education is exclusively an exercise in pounding in bad habits?
What’s the outcome for students in the very worst of our schools that make no attempt whatsoever to help its pupils learn to think critically? Well, their kids learn to:
- Read and write
- Do math, at least through algebra
- Understand some level of history and geography
- Make friends and get along with others
- Establish independence from the parents
- Gain the qualifications for employment
What’s the alternative? Illiteracy? Social isolation? Child labor? Poverty? Neurotic sloth? Being a burden on society?
Is it a coincidence that the countries with the best educated children are the happiest, sanest and most productive nations on the planet?
If you’re a competent woman working at the highest echelon in the U.S. government, better start packing your bags.
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