The 150-turbine windfarm would be built at Ironpot, 30km south west of Kingaroy, involving about 200 construction jobs and 15 ongoing jobs once it is operational.
The Queensland government is planning on building what would be the largest publicly owned wind farm in Australia.
The proposal would see the 150-turbine wind farm built at Ironpot, 30km south west of Kingaroy. The final decision on the proposal is expected to come in 2024.
The project is expected to involve about 200 construction jobs and 15 ongoing jobs once it is operational.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the Tarong West wind farm could generate 500MW of electricity and power up to 230,000 homes.
“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,” Palaszczuk said.
The Premier visited the site in the Southern Queensland Renewable Energy Zone today, ahead of Wednesday when she said there will be major announcement on energy and climate change during the EDA State of the State address.
She said it will be “one of the biggest announcements our government has ever made”.
At this time 21 per cent of Queensland’s electricity is produced from renewable energy sources like rooftop solar and solar and wind farms. The government wants to take that up to 50 per cent by 2030.
“This is the way the world is transitioning,” Palaszczuk said.
“It’s great news for our economy, it’s a clean green renewable energy. It’s something that our government is absolutely committed to.
“We have more and more investment coming onto our books which means that there are going to be a lot more of the scale of these wind farms and solar farms.”
Climate campaigners are positive about the news that the government wants to build large renewables projects, but are calling for a state plan to phase out of fossil fuels.
“Queensland is Australia’s highest emitting state and one of the biggest jurisdictions for per-capita emissions anywhere. Only Alberta in Canada and Qatar are worse,” said Jason Lyddieth of the Australian Conservation Foundation.
“The state is also going hell for leather with new mines and gas fields. The government needs to get serious and have a plan to get off fossil fuels.
“Having a 2030 target of just 30% when the federal government has a 43% target is completely untenable.”
If approved in 2024, construction from the state-owned Stanwell Corporation would begin the same year and the wind farm will be set to begin operating from 2026.
