June 8, 2023
Construction has officially begun on the huge Wambo Wind Farm project, situated near the existing Coopers Gap wind farm south-west of Kingaroy.
Energy Minister Mick de Brenni was joined by officials from Cubico Sustainable Investments and Stanwell on Thursday to officially break ground on the project.
It is a joint venture between Cubico and the State Government-owned Stanwell Corporation, with the government pouring in $192.5 million for its half-share.
The footprint of the wind farm is north of Niagara Road in the Western Downs Regional Council area.
Initially there will be 42 turbines – some of the largest in Australia at 247m tall – generating 252MW of electricity.
However, there is a capacity to increase the number of towers in the future, based on feasibility studies.
“Today marks another important step forward to Queensland’s renewable energy future – starting construction of the Wambo Wind Farm, and propelling us closer to our renewable energy target of 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030, and 80 per cent renewable energy by 2035,” Minister de Brenni said.
“The Wambo Wind Farm is a prime example of the Palaszczuk Government partnering with the private sector to deliver clean energy to Queenslanders, while retaining control of the energy system.
“The power generated by the 42 wind turbines will be sent to the Queensland SuperGrid in 2025, to be connected to the State’s next pumped hydro at Borumba … in 2032.”
Stanwell CEO Michael O’Rourke said the 42-turbine project formed “part of Stanwell’s rapidly accelerating pipeline of renewable energy projects” which was set to total 9-10GW by 2035.
“Our growing pipeline means that we can expand our renewable offerings for our commercial and industrial customers and support the Palaszczuk Government’s target of 80 per cent renewable energy by 2035,” Mr O’Rourke said.
“Today we have taken a significant step forward for Queensland’s renewable energy industry, and a major milestone in our journey to provide reliable, secure and affordable energy products for our commercial and industrial customers who want to power their businesses with clean renewable energy.”
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Could someone please let me know how those hard hat wearing Government Ministers arrive in the South Burnett? Do they drive on the D’Aguilar Goat Track or the Brisbane Valley Excuse for a Highway and what about the Blackbutt Range following a couple of B-Doubles with often 14 vehicles following, hoping they will turn right at the Harlin turnoff or left at Kilcoy as there is no passing lane south of Blackbutt until after Woodford!
Wondering when the Brisbane City wind farm will commence construction?
Yeah, great idea. Let’s knock down all those useless houses where hundreds of people live, all those shops, all the office buildings and simply build a dozen or so wind towers. Or the power companies could continue building them on cattle country where a few cows are grazing and there’s plenty of breezes, and the cattle can actually keep on grazing. Hard choice.
Government madness at its finest! Wind farms haven’t worked overseas and they won’t work here. I would suggest we strap a few pollies to the base of a tower and see if they like the noise. Oh that’s right, they wouldn’t notice as they are not that intelligent.
I think you’re misinformed, Chris – go have a look at this: https://www.iea.org/reports/wind-electricity