Andrew Forrest seeks green tick for another wind and battery project as Clarke Creek powers up

Squadron Energy, owned by iron ore magnate and green energy champion Andrew Forrest, is seeking approval for yet another big wind and battery project in the popular south-west renewable zone of NSW, as his first big wind project in Queensland starts injecting its first power to the grid.

Squadron has filed an application with the federal government for approval for the 300 MW Conargo energy hub near Deniliquin that will also feature a big battery with up to eight hours of storage.

It joins a host of other projects jockeying for access to the grid in the newly declared south-west REZ, including several projects of his own such as the Gol Gol wind farm and battery project proposal that envisages more than a gigawatt of wind capacity and up to 12,000 MWh of battery storage.

The wind component of the Conargo project would involve around 53 turbines sized at up to 270 metres, while Squadron says it is keeping its options open on the technology and storage duration of the battery.

“A range of technologies are under consideration,” Squadron Energy says in its application date last week. It says this includes lithium-ion and flow batteries, (including vanadium, iron chloride, or zinc) and compressed air storage.

The south-west REZ has become a fascinating renewable zone – long ignored because of grid constraints, it has suddenly become the focus of multiple huge developments, courtesy of the new transmission line that is being built to link South Australia and NSW, and the realisation that the wind resource is actually really good.

An added advantage is the relatively flat terrain, which will likely make transport and construction of the giant wind turbines easier and cheaper, and the widespread support of local communities and landowners.

But there is now at least 10 times more proposed capacity than could likely be hosted, and many wonder why more capacity was not built into the main transmission line and the local network.

In Queensland, meanwhile, Squadron’s biggest wind project to date, the 450 MW Clarke Creek facility near Rockhampton, has injected its first power to the grid as it works through the commissioning process.

Clarke Creek is bigger than Squadron’s Murra Warra wind farms in Victoria and the recently opened Bango wind farm in NSW, and could reach one gigawatt with a proposed second stage goes ahead. A 400 MW solar farm is also proposed.

The addition of Clarke Creek will be a major boost for the Queensland grid, whose transition away from its heavy dependence of coal fired generation is starting to gather pace.

Queensland remains the country’s most coal dependent grid, with an average share of 70 per cent over the past 12 months, and has a target of 50 per cent renewable by 2030 and 80 per cent by 2035.

The status of those targets is unclear given the election of an LNP government that has stated its antipathy to wind projects and its desire to tear up the targets.

But with the 923 MW MacIntyre wind project, and Clarke Creek, working through their commissions phase, the wind capacity in the state will more than double to more than 2.5 GW by the middle of next year.