Vic ALP promises wind farm kick-start

Exclusion zones around wind farms will be cut in half in a bid to kick-start the industry if Labor wins the Victorian election.

Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews will wind back the planning controls the coalition made law in 2011.

Labor says only two Victorian wind farms have been approved since 2010.

"Labor will get our wind energy industry back up and running - creating thousands of jobs, powering our homes and improving our environment," Mr Andrews said on Thursday.

The plan would cut the exclusion zone around dwellings from two kilometres to one kilometre, and make the planning minister responsible for approving new wind farms.

But Planning Minister Matthew Guy said Labor was taking away communities' power to approve new projects just to give the CFMEU more work.

"The coalition gave back this power to local communities. Now Daniel Andrews wants control back for the sake of his friends at the CFMEU," Mr Guy said.

Environment Victoria chief executive Mark Wakeham said the changes were a return to common-sense wind farm planning.

"This will encourage a pipeline of new wind farm projects across the state," he said.

"It has been harder to gain approval for a new wind farm than a new coalmine or coal-fired power station."

Greens leader Greg Barber said Labor should have removed the exclusion zones altogether.

"Noise regulations are all we need," he said.