North West Mineral Province can provide low-cost renewable power

Low-cost wind and solar resources in North West Queensland can help Australia’s clean energy transition, says Windlab.

The development of low-cost wind and solar resources in North West Queensland can supply as much as 80 per cent of the region’s power as well as play as important role in Australia’s transition from fossil fuels, a leading Australian renewable energy developer says.

Windlab, a company created by former CSIRO scientists, has provided the analysis to the state government’s consultation on electricity supply options for the North West Minerals Province.

Windlab has backed the connection of the province to the National Electricity Market through the development of the CopperString transmission project.

But it has also provided a glowing appraisal of the region’s wind resources, saying they are “significantly more abundant and reliable than in any other part of the country”.

Windlab is a company owned by Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest.

It says they will be important for Australia’s transition to an electricity grid powered mostly be renewables.

“Wind generated in north Queensland is crucial to the NEM generation profile because it has the lowest correlation with wind in all other Australian states,” the submission says.

It also had a “night-time bias” which complemented solar.

Windlab developed Australia’s first hybrid solar, wind and battery storage power station, Kennedy Energy Park, at Hughenden in 2018.

The company says it has simulated a range of different sizes of wind and solar capacities within the mineral province to investigate how renewables can meet both local demand and export power back to the National Electricity Market.

Townsville Enterprise CEO Claudia Brumme-Smith with Windlab manager Martin Vries at the Kennedy Energy Park near Hughenden.

The results indicate that connection to the NEM will not only provide the mineral province but Queensland and the wider NEM with a large amount of low-cost renewable energy, it says.

“In fact, the quality of the local wind and solar resource, and the lack of correlation to wind in the wider NEM, would suggest that the NWMP would be mostly a net exporter to the NEM,” the submission says.

It says installing renewables with significant overcapacity — two and a half times current local demand and transmission capacity — could achieve a renewable penetration rate of 79 per cent while keeping curtailment to around 15 per cent.

But it says this high renewable penetration with relatively low curtailment is only possible if a near optimal mix with a “slight bias” to wind over solar is achieved.

Windlab is one of several groups eyeing multi-billion dollar wind farm projects in North Queensland.

Originally published as North West Mineral Province can provide low-cost renewable power