Government steps in to pave way for wind addition to solar and hydro hybrid

The Queensland state government has stepped in to effectively guarantee the delivery of the 258MW Kidston wind farm that will form a crucial part of the country’s first solar, wind and pumped hydro project.

The state government on Friday declared the Kidston wind farm to be a “prescribed project”, which will give it priority in development approvals, effectively ensuring its delivery.

It will be a key part of Kidston Clean Energy Hub, which includes the already operating 50MW Kidston solar farm, and the 250MW, eight hour pumped hydro project which is under construction.

The announcement comes just weeks after a consortium led by Atlassian co founder and billionaire Scott Farquhar walked away from a proposed $350 million bid for Kidston owner Genex after a lengthy inspection of its books, and reportedly due to concerns about the pumped hydro project.

Farquar’s investment company Skip Capital retains a near 20 per cent interest in Genex.

Acting premier Steven Miles says the Kidston Clean Energy Hub will be important to strengthen the reliability of the grid in north Queensland, and to help the state reach its newly announced renewable targets of 70 per cent by 2032 and 80 per cent by 2035.

“It will enable generation, storage and dispatch of renewable energy on demand during peak periods, strengthening the reliability of the energy grid for North Queensland communities,” he said, adding that the $295 million wind project will create around 200 construction jobs and 10 permanent jobs.

More than 20 local suppliers based in Townsville, Ingham and Cairns are already partnering with state owned transmission company Powerlink to deliver the transmission line that will connect the Clean Energy Hub – and the pumped hydro – to the national electricity grid.

Genex CEO James Harding said the company had requested the declaration to reflect it importance to the local grid.

“Genex knows how important the Kidston Wind Farm will be for the people of North Queensland, which is why we requested it be declared a prescribed project,” Harding said in a statement.

“It is not only economically and socially significant for the region, we are proud that it will contribute to Queensland’s renewable energy targets.”

Genex expects to give final approval to the investment later in the year after seeking long term contracts for the output.

Genex revealed in November that it had increased the size of the wind project from 200MW to 258MW, following a detailed study of its options and after choosing to use 6MW turbines supplied by China-based turbine manufacturer Goldwind

The government media release said a prescribed project is one which is of significance, particularly economically and socially, to Queensland or a region. Declaring a prescribed project allows the Coordinator-General’s powers to ensure timely decision-making in development approvals.