First turbine goes up at Forrest-backed Clarke Creek wind farm

The first turbine has been installed at what will be one of the biggest wind farms in Australia, the 450MW Clarke Creek project being built in central Queensland by Andrew Forrest’s Squadron Energy.

The milestone, marking assembly of the first of 100 turbines that will make up the massive project, was shared by Squadron on LinkedIn on Thursday, complete with an “action shot.”

The 450MW project is the first stage of an ambitious multi-gigawatt renewable precinct to be built by Squadron Energy, which recently paid around $4 billion for the renewable developer CWP, which has expertise in building large scale wind and solar projects.

The sign of progress follows a hiccup in the project’s development when tools were downed in May while a change in project managers for was undertaken by Squadron.

As RenewEconomy reported at the time, the project manager being replaced, Windlab, is another company in Forrest’s portfolio. His private interests own 75 per cent of that company, and it was thought that Squadron wanted the contract brought in under a wholly owned company.

The management change also meant a change of construction equipment, which meant all work on the project was put on hold, less than a year after the first sod was turned.

Once complete, Clarke Creek will supply around three-quarters of its output to the Queensland government-owned Stanwell Corporation under a 15-year power purchase agreement.

Forrest’s vision for the full Clarke Creek project will include the addition of solar and energy storage capacity – all clustered around a 76,300-hectare site located 150-kilometres north-west of Rockhampton.