Queensland Government-owned generator CS Energy has entered into a 10-year agreement with the 60MW Kennedy Energy Park, near Hughenden in North Queensland.
The project, developed by Windlab and Eurus Energy Holdings, will comprise a 15MW solar photovoltaic plant, 43.5MW wind farm, and 2MW/4MWh of battery storage.
The combination of wind and solar resources, which peak in generation at different times of the day, with battery storage will allow the Kennedy Energy Park to supply energy to the grid even when the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow.
CS Energy CEO Martin Moore said the agreement was part of the company’s strategy to facilitate renewable energy development in Queensland while continuing to provide reliable baseload electricity through its existing portfolio of power stations.
“CS Energy is looking to the future and making strategic investments that will provide a sustainable future for the company and support Queensland’s transition to a clean energy future,” Mr Moore said.
Kennedy Energy Park director Rob Fisher welcomed the agreement with CS Energy.
“The agreement with CS Energy means this industry leading project can commence construction later this year and be generating in 2018,” he said.
“The project will prove up many key concepts and technologies necessary for the ongoing rollout of high penetration renewable energy around the world.”
The Kennedy Energy Park will connect to the national grid via existing transmission infrastructure, with a maximum export capacity of 50MW.
Treasurer Curtis Pitt said the agreement means CS Energy would purchase the electricity output and a proportion of the large-scale generation certificates from the planned hybrid generation facility.
“The Kennedy Energy Park is an innovative grid-connected wind, solar and storage hybrid project that will provide enough electricity to power more than 30,000 homes,” Mr Pitt said.
“This $150 million project is part of a wave of renewable energy investment occurring in North Queensland that will revitalise communities and create jobs for the future.
“Since January 2016, Queensland has seen an unprecedented level of renewable energy investment activity in North Queensland, with more than 830MW of large-scale projects commencing construction or finalising commercial arrangements.”
The project will be fully operational in the second half of 2018 and is a catalyst project for the much larger Kennedy Wind Farm, which will form a key part of the Clean Energy Hub under the Powering North Queensland Plan.