The Queensland Government will invest half a billion dollars to propel the development of large-scale solar and wind projects, to help Queensland meets its renewable energy targets, and its commitment to maintain a majority share in energy generation.
The investment capitalises on Queensland’s abundant sun and wind resources, and will significantly contribute to the state’s future renewable energy requirements of 70% by 2032 and 80% by 2035.
The investment will also support up to 4,000 Queensland jobs throughout the duration of the projects’ construction, to be built in Central Queensland.
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The investment puts Queensland government owned CleanCo on a path to supercharging its current portfolio of publicly-owned generation assets, to be connected via the state’s renewable energy backbone, the Queensland SuperGrid.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said, “[This] announcement will deliver a pipeline of jobs and training for the Central Queensland region, and provide critical support in building local supply chains, and supporting regional economic development into the future,” the Premier said.
“This is about future-proofing Central and regional Queensland, and ensuring continued investment to deliver jobs, and boost the economy.
“This half a billion-dollar investment in new renewable wind and solar projects will propel our government’s commitment to delivering more cheaper, cleaner renewable energy.”
CleanCo CEO Tom Metcalfe said, “Central Queensland is the state’s industrial powerhouse and it needs reliable, affordable, clean energy solutions to drive future prosperity and industry development.
“That’s why a cornerstone of CleanCo’s renewable growth program is to support the decarbonisation of industry in Central Queensland, helping the region to thrive in a net zero future.
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“This $500m investment will accelerate the development of a substantial program of local renewable energy projects which will provide much needed capacity to the SuperGrid, and enable CleanCo to provide our customers with unique, sustainable retail product offerings and support them on their decarbonisation journeys.”
This initial investment will support the development phase of up to 2.3GW of solar and wind projects in Central Queensland.
The development phase includes completing environmental, engineering and procurement plans, obtaining all approvals and includes First Nations engagement and partnership, community and stakeholder planning and approval for all transmission connections required to ready the projects for construction.
