The Australian Federal government has given planning approval to the 800MW Clarke Creek Wind Farm in Queensland.
Developer Lacour Energy is partnering with Goldwind on the $1.5 billion project, which will be integrated with a solar and battery storage facility and located 150km north-west of Rockhampton.
Construction of the 195-turbine wind farm is expected to start next year, with about 350 jobs created during construction together with 25 full-time positions when the project becomes operational. State planning approval for the project was received in June.
“The project has now received Federal government approval under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act,” said Mark Rayner, Lacour Energy director.
“Earlier this year, the wind farm project received Queensland government planning approval for up to 195 wind turbines and approval was earlier secured for a 400MW solar farm and a large utility-scale battery.
“The combination of wind, solar and battery represents a very large-scale integrated renewables power station located at one of the strongest locations of the Queensland power system – no grid extension is required.
“Importantly, the wind resource is night biased, complementing daytime solar production.”
The wind farm, once complete, would generate enough electricity to power around 590,000 Queensland homes and supply around four per cent of the state’s electricity.
“We are now seeking expressions of interest for the balance of plant tender process for the full civil and electrical works for the wind farm and we will shortly launch the Clarke Creek local business participation program,” added John Titchen, Goldwind Australia managing director.
“This program will be a key initiative to identify capability and capacity in the local community and maximise opportunities for local subcontractors and suppliers to participate in the project.
“This program has proven successful for projects currently under construction in Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania.”
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