A new wind farm near Warwick in Queensland will be built by publicly owned generator CleanCo building, as part of a precinct that will create 400 jobs and supply up to nearly 700,000 homes.
Early works are expected to start later this year, with construction scheduled to run from mid-2021 to 2024, with the Precinct generating its first power from mid-2022.
Deputy Premier and Treasurer Jackie Trad said the wind farm will be part of the 1026-megawatt MacIntyre Wind Farm Precinct on the Southern Downs.
“For the next few months, the entire focus of the Queensland Government is on protecting Queenslanders’ health, Queensland jobs and Queensland businesses.
“But when we move into the recovery phase, we need shovel-ready projects that will support more jobs in more industries, especially in regional Queensland.
The wind farm of 18 turbines will have capacity to generate up to 100 megawatts of new renewable energy. CleanCo will also buy another 400 megawatts of new renewable energy from ACCIONA.
“CleanCo’s involvement in the MacIntyre Precinct has nearly doubled the size and capacity of the wind farm, with Queenslanders set to benefit from the addition of more than one gigawatt of new renewable energy to our electricity network,” the Premier said.
Minister for Energy Dr Anthony Lynham said the MacIntyre Precinct will have far reaching and long lasting social and economic benefits locally, and for the whole state.
“The local spend on the Downs is forecast to be more than $500 million during construction,
Dr Lynham said the 1026 MW wind farm project was expected to be progressively connected to the statewide energy grid from 2022, with 64 km of new powerlines connecting the wind farm to Queensland’s electricity network at Millmerran.
“State-owned Powerlink has already commenced working on the connection of the project to the grid, which on its own will support up to 240 jobs.”
The project is scheduled to begin construction in mid-2021, with a gradual start-up in phases to ensure connection to the grid with full technical guarantees for the state’s electricity system. The entire MacIntyre complex will be operational in 2024.