Just days after Australia was told that wind farms don’t work at night* (*not true) the Queensland Labor government has given the green light for development of one of the Sunshine State’s biggest wind farms yet, the 372MW Boulder Creek project.
The wind farm’s developers, Epuron, announced the milestone on Thursday, all but locking in the $750 million project for construction in the Central Queensland Renewable Energy Zone, in the state’s Rockhampton region.
One last hurdle for the 60-tubine project is federal government environmental approval, with construction slated to begin towards the end of 2022, if and when that hurdle has been cleared.
Paul Stangroom, Epuron’s development director, said the wind farm would be a significant project for the region, creating up to 350 jobs during construction and 15-20 ongoing jobs during operation.
“This project will be a great opportunity for the Rockhampton region to benefit from Australia’s clean energy transition,” he said.
“The Boulder Creek Wind Farm site is ideal for wind energy generation. It has an excellent wind resource and is close to the existing transmission network.
“Central Queensland is blessed with natural resources, so it is well placed to continue as an energy generation hub into the future.”
Epruon said construction of the wind farm, once fully approved, was expected to take 18-24 months, with the aim of being fully operational by 2025.
Epuron is also proposing to build an even bigger wind farm in north Queensland, the 570MW Chalumbin wind farm which would be located about 10km south of Ravenshoe, within the planned Northern Queensland Renewable Energy Zone.
The company will host community information sessions for Boulder Creek project in the nearby towns of Westwood and Mount Morgan in December. More information here.
