Queensland announces $766m wind farm project

Australia’s largest publicly owned wind farm will be built in Queensland, with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk pouring $766 million into the project as she seeks to reboot the state’s energy policy.

The project in the South Burnett, north-west of Brisbane, will include up to 150 turbines and potentially generate enough electricity to power 230,000 homes.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk (centre) and Minister for Energy, Renewables and Hydrogen Mick de Brenni tour a wind farm facility in the South Burnett district of Queensland on Monday.Credit: AAP/Russell Freeman

“It will also create around 200 jobs during construction and 15 ongoing jobs when operational,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

“It’s investments like this that will ensure we deliver on our net-zero ambitions and our promise to Queenslanders to become a global renewable energy superpower.”

The project is about 30 kilometres south-west of Kingaroy, in the state’s Southern Queensland Renewable Energy Zone.

Palaszczuk has signalled a major climate and energy announcement at her State of the State address on Wednesday.

Energy Minister Mick de Brenni said the project would increase the state’s renewable energy fleet by seven per cent.

“It will eliminate a million tonnes of CO2 emissions each year from our energy system,” he said on Monday.

“That’s the equivalent of taking 320,000 cars off the road.”

Treasurer Cameron Dick said the Tarong West wind farm project would be funded through the Queensland Renewable Energy and Hydrogen Jobs fund.

Building the wind farm through the publicly owned Stanwell Corporation means the state will have dispatch control of significant renewable generation capacity, he said.

Final approvals are expected in 2024.

Renewable projects made up about 21 per cent of Queensland’s energy market, Palaszczuk said.

While the premier would not be drawn on whether the state’s coal-fire power states will be shut down earlier than planned, she hinted she was set to announce a major shift in the energy space.

“It’s probably one of the most important State of the State address that I will ever give as premier,” she said.

“It basically is our energy plan.”

The Queensland Greens want to see a closure timeline and workforce support measures to transition coal-fired power stations to renewables by 2030 included in the energy plan.

“(The government’s) emissions targets are the real elephant in the room,” Energy spokesman Michael Berkman said.

“If they don’t stop burning coal by 2030 we’ll breach our Paris obligations and cook our climate.”

AAP