Energy used by Indigo Council could soon be 100 per cent renewable, after it agreed to join a consortium of other Victorian councils in a new agreement.
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Tenders will go out soon for the "Victorian local government power purchase agreement".
Cr Diane Shepheard told this week's meeting that the length of the project had not been decided, but would be between five and 10 years.
"I think it's an exciting opportunity for us to work with nearly a majority of Victorian councils to buy renewable energy behind the meter," she said.
"That's some leadership I think we should be proud of."
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The agreement will only be approved if the tender comes back at a cost that is no more than the council's current energy costs.
"It makes sense that we buy renewable energy," Cr Shepheard said.
"We will not lose money from being involved in this power purchase agreement.
"I can't see any negatives at this stage, but I'm sure someone else will find them."
Cr James Trenery was the only councillor to vote against the plan, saying he did not want to lock in the council for up to 10 years.
"I think it's a huge risk," he said.
"I have absolutely no faith in this modelling at all.
"I looked up the company, it is all about getting away from coal power rather than having anything to do with renewables."
Chief executive Trevor Ierino said he trusted the modelling done by independent experts, but confirmed that once contracts were signed, the council could not back out of the deal.
"The nature of this type of proposal is that the alliance goes to the market with a confirmed view about volumes and load," he said.
"Or else the whole tender process would fall over, the potential tenders wouldn't know what they were bidding for."
The project was initiated by the Victorian Greenhouse Alliances' local government electricity contract working group.
