New 180MW wind farm officially opened in southern Queensland

The 180MW Dulacca wind farm in southern Queensland has been officially opened, the sixth and equal second biggest wind project to be completed in the Sunshine state.

The Dulacca wind farm consists of 43 turbines on farm land in the Western Downs region and was developed by RES. In 2021 it was sold to Octopus Australia.

It is part of a rush of new wind energy investments in a state which, until five years ago, had a single 12MW wind farm at Windy Hill. Queensland now has six fully operating wind farms and many more under construction, including the country’s first gigawatt scale wind project at MacIntyre.

Most of the output (70 per cent, or 126 MW) of the Dulacca wind farm has been contracted to the state-owned CleanCo, which in turn is selling the output to customers including BHP-Mitsubishi coal mining operations and Scentre Group, which owns and operates Westfield shopping centres in the state.

The opening was attended by Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and energy minister Mick de Brenni. The state currently sources just 25 per cent of its generation from renewables, but has a 50 per cent target for 2030, and an 80 per cent target for 2035.

“The Dulacca Wind Farm represents a significant moment in Queensland’s energy transformation, twelve months on from the establishment of the Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan, and highlights our commitment to cleaner, cheaper energy for Queenslanders,” Palaszczuk said in a statement.

“We’re not just powering Queensland, we’re contributing to a global shift toward decarbonisation, and our publicly owned clean energy generator CleanCo is at the forefront.

de Brenni said wholesale power costs were falling, and would continue to fall with each new wind farm connection.