Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced a bold clean energy future for Queensland with renewables including the biggest pumped hydro scheme in the world and Australia’s largest wind farm.
A new dam in the Pioneer Valley near Mackay will supply half of Queensland’s entire energy needs with clean, reliable and affordable renewable energy.
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It is just one part of a $62 billion Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan that includes:
- 70% of Queensland’s energy supply from renewables by 2032
- 80% by 2035
- Two new pumped hydros at Pioneer/Burdekin and Borumba Dam by 2035
- A new Queensland SuperGrid connecting solar, wind, battery and hydrogen generators across the State
- Unlocking 22GW of new renewable capacity—giving us 8 times our current level
- Publicly owned coal fired-power stations to convert to clean energy hubs to transition to, for example, hydrogen power, with jobs guarantees for workers
- Queensland’s publicly-owned coal-fired power stations to stop reliance on burning coal by 2035
- 100,000 new jobs by 2040, most in regional Queensland
- 11.5GW of rooftop solar and 6GW of embedded batteries
- 95% of investment in regional Queensland
- Building Queensland’s first hydrogen ready gas turbine
- Projects subject to environmental approvals
The premier also announced that Queensland would build Australia’s largest publicly owned wind farm in the South Burnett, with government funding of $776 million for the project.
Palaszczuk visited the Southern Queensland Renewables Energy Zone to announce the major project which would see publicly owned Stanwell Corporation build the Tarong West Wind Farm.
“This project with up to 150 turbines could generate 500MW capacity, enough clean electricity to power up to 230,000 homes,” she said.
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“It will also create around 200 jobs during construction and 15 ongoing jobs when operational.
“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.”
