The federal government reached a compromise with Labor to reduce the target from 41,000 gigawatt hours to 33,000 gigawatt hours by 2020.

This will mean between 23 and 25 per cent of Australia's power will come from renewable energy sources by then.

The Coalition also agreed to drop a requirement for a review of the target every two years, a condition which the opposition would not agree to.

Despite there being a number of proposed wind farms across the Wimmera, Mr Broad argued the target's favourable treatment of the wind industry would not have major effects in reducing carbon emissions.

"Most people do not understand how a power grid works, and most people do not understand the effect of a Renewable Energy Target," he said.

"The effects are that there'll be more investment in wind turbines because the current legislation favours wind over solar, which I think is disappointing.

"Power prices will probably go up, there will be some investment in our region - which will give a little more rating revenue to some councils - but emissions will probably not change and for that reason it's probably not a great policy outcome unless you're a Spanish-owned wind farm operator."

Mr Broad said the original target was based on projections for increased electricity.

"Our population has changed behaviour and we have in some regards de-industrialised," he said.

"We've reduced the amount of power we thought we would need.

"We've also lost a lot of industry off-shore, which has reduced our power needs."

Spanish company Enerfin is behind a 63-turbine wind farm at Bulgana, Great Western and Joel Joel, which was given planning approval by Northern Grampians Shire Council last month.

Sabble Group managing director Brett Thomas, who represents Enerfin, said the compromise was a positive step forward for the industry.

"The challenge has been that with the target's uncertainty it was quite difficult for investors to understand how they were going to sell the power into the market," he said.

Ararat Rural City Council will be home to the 75-turbine Ararat Wind Farm.

Ararat Mayor Paul Hooper said an end to uncertainty over the target had been a long time coming.

"It's caused a lot of people a lot of uncertainty, it's created an enormous amount of cost, it's delayed developments and that's been regrettable," he said.

Cr Hooper said the planned Ararat Wind Farm would become the municipality's largest ratepayer if it went ahead.

He said it was essential for Ararat's economy.

Mr Broad said emissions could be reduced more effectively through large-scale solar farms and a smarter way of organising electricity supply.