Tarong West wind farm: How project will support Queensland energy grid

The state’s huge new wind farm project will power 230,000 homes, as experts say the state is still lagging “behind the rest of the pack”.

Energy Minister Mick de Brenni has revealed how the government’s new South Burnett wind farm project will power 230,000 Queensland homes but experts say the state is still lagging “behind the rest of the pack” when it comes to renewable energy investment.

It comes as the Premier announced her government would build Australia’s largest publicly-owned wind farm on Monday, which is expected to generate enough electricity to power a city the size of the Gold Coast.

Mr de Brenni praised the $776 million project, which would see 150 turbines generate a 500MW capacity, saying it showed Queensland was “serious about becoming a global renewable energy powerhouse.”

But Professor John Quiggin, climate change and environment economics expert at UQ, said Queensland still needs to accelerate its investment in renewable energy as Australia moves more towards electric energy models such as electric cars.

The Tarong West wind farm will generate enough energy to power 230,000 homes. Picture: AAP Image/Russell Freeman

He said although the Tarong West wind farm project was a logical step in terms of claiming public ownership of the state’s renewable energy resources, Queensland was still likely to lose big money when its coal fired stations near their expiration date.

“We are accelerating the transition process but we need to go a lot faster,” Prof Quiggin said.

“I suppose we’ve seen the lesson from the last six months or so that the idea of gas is not a goer as a transition fuel, perhaps we should be going all the way renewables … we made deals that sounded good at the time and don't look too good in retrospect and that’s gas in general because globally there is this idea that gas would make it easier to transition but it’s not as clean as we thought.

“We basically need more of the same (investment). In an ideal world we wouldn't be repairing the generator that burnt down at Callide, but the politics haven’t made it necessary and it’s money we probably won’t recover.

“Although the government had not come to grips with this, it will be the coal fired stations that we lose money on … because on the current (investment) schedule, there will be longer life for power stations. We won’t win the last few years of our coal fired stations.

“2030 isn‘t going to happen. We’ll be 50 per cent of the way there and of course Queensland is well behind the pack so I hope it’s well before 2040 that we see the last of the coal-fired power stations.”

UQ Professor John Quiggin is a climate change and environment economics expert. Picture: Supplied

Professor Quiggin said Queensland is primed and ready for further wind farm investment, which is the cheapest large-scale option and slightly more reliable than solar powered rooftops.

“In general, it’s (wind) the cheapest form of renewable electricity … Queensland is a big state, we’ve got plenty of wind and really the choices are wind and solar PV and the way the Australian system is set-up, rooftop solar has a big advantage but most investment has so far been wind,” he said.
“Typically, the rate of capacity is 500MW for the wind turbine and that's what you get if the winds blowing, and wind typically runs at full capacity about 40 per cent of the time, which is more than solar, and far more than coal if the power station is actually working.

“Solar tends to work at a lower rate, and it’s typically the case that solar and wind balance each other out, you have more wind when there’s less sun and visa versa, so you want a mix in the system.

“They aren’t really any other large scale alternatives for renewable energy.”

Mr Quiggin explained the way wind turbines generate electricity was almost the opposite way to how household fans take electricity to power on.

He said similarly to the Hornsdale Wind Farm in South Australia – which included the installation of the largest lithium-ion battery – Queensland could “most definitely” add a battery storage option to the Taronga West farm.

“If you think of a household fan, the electricity turns it, but with turbines, essentially the fan or turbine turns a magnet, which revolves inside a coil or generator and that generates an electric current and sends it to an electric grid or system,” he said.

“Regarding battery storage, if you look at the Hornsdale battery, it’s actually used as a grid there to stabilise off-wind moments when there is no wind available, so large scale batteries are an option for any kind of solar or wind.”

Energy Minister Mick de Brenni. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Energy Minister Mick de Brenni said the Tarong West wind farm project would power 230,000 Queensland homes by feeding into the existing Powerlink transmission network, but couldn’t confirm if the site would include battery storage.

“It (electricity) will then disperse into the distribution networks, or supply other large directly connected loads,” Mr de Brenni said.

“As Queensland progresses toward its renewable energy target, batteries, firming and other storage options will become increasingly important.”

“Importantly, Queensland’s renewable resources are spread throughout the state, ensuring that regional Queensland will benefit from the investment and jobs created by new wind and solar projects.”

A final decision on the Tarong West Wind Farm is expected to be delivered in 2024, with construction starting and if approved, construction would also commence in 2024, with commercial operations from 2026.