State generator bins plan for Australia’s biggest publicly owned wind farm, shifts focus to PPA

Queensland government-owned energy company Stanwell Corporation has passed on its option to buy the Tarong West wind farm, extinguishing plans for what would have been Australia’s largest publicly owned wind farm and leaving developer, RES Australia, to find a new path to financial close.

In an announcement published just days after the 436.5 megawatt (MW) wind farm was awarded federal environmental approval to go ahead in Queensland’s South Burnett region, Stanwell said it has transferred its option to acquire Tarong West to a private investor.

“Stanwell retains exclusivity to negotiate a long-term commercial offtake arrangement for power from the Tarong West Wind Farm through a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA),” the company said, in the two-line statement, before linking to an update from RES.

In its own update, RES confirmed that global outfit Innagreen Investments was the new equity partner on Tarong West, with which it will “continue to progress toward financial close and construction, supported by long-term offtake arrangements and experienced delivery partners.”

The Tarong West project will comprise 97 Vestas wind turbines, each with a capacity of 4.5 MW and standing up to 280 metres tall, spread out across around 19,000 hectares of mostly cleared farmland currently used for grazing.

Stanwell’s decision on not to buy the wind farm marks a complete about-face on the “historic deal” Stanwell sealed in the last days of the former Queensland Labor government, which included the promise of $776 million to underwrite the project.

“Tarong West Wind Farm will be Australia’s largest publicly owned wind farm, which is a game changer for Queensland’s renewable energy future,” the then state energy minister Mick de Brenni said in a statement back in September 2024.

“It will play a critical role in transitioning our energy portfolio and brings us closer to our goal of having 9 to 10GW of large-scale wind and solar capacity by 2035,” Stanwell CEO Michael O’Rourke said, at the time.

RES says the new deal with Innagreen builds on a “longstanding relationship” between the two companies, that has delivered and operates renewable energy projects across multiple continents.

“Now with Federal EPBC approval secured, and key planning and grid milestones already in place – including Development Approval from Queensland’s State Assessment and Referral Agency (SARA) and a grid connection letter from AEMO and Powerlink – the project is preparing to progress toward construction,” RES said on LinkedIn on Friday.

Innagreen says Australia is a key growth market for the company, and describes Tarong West as a “high-quality renewable energy project aligned with our long-term investment strategy and our commitment to supporting the energy transition.”

“Innagreen is a trusted long-term partner with a strong track record of financing, building and operating large-scale renewable projects,” A RES spokesperson added.

“Their participation reinforces the strength of the Tarong West Wind Farm and our shared commitment to delivering reliable, sustainable and affordable electricity for Queensland.”

Renew Economy has sough further comment from Stanwell on its decision to pass on the option to buy Tarong West wind farm.

Stanwell last month announced the official launch of commercial operations at its wholly-owned 300 megawatt, two-hour Tarong Battery, a 600 megawatt-hour facility located in the shadow of the Tarong coal power station.

“This is a significant milestone for Stanwell, our first wholly owned battery project, delivered end-to-end by our team from concept through to construction, operations and maintenance.” Stanwell CEO Michael O’Rourke said in a statement in February.

“Stanwell’s deep experience operating and maintaining reliable coal-fired power stations is powering a broader vision, to build a more flexible and reliable energy portfolio to meet Queensland’s growing energy needs.”

The Queensland government also marked the occasion, describing it as “another major milestone” in the state’s Energy Roadmap, just days after the offical powering-up of CleanCo’s Swanbank Battery south of Brisbane.

“Batteries for firming and storage are critical to our Energy Roadmap delivering affordable, reliable and sustainable energy for Queensland,” state energy minister and treasurer David Janetzki said. 

“This project will strengthen energy reliability and support peak demand, easing network stress and improving overall market efficiency.”

Since being elected in late 2024, the Queensland LNP government has rewritten the rules for large-scale renewable energy projects seeking development approval in the state and, more recently, dumped its renewable energy targets. 

As Renew Economy reported at the time, the Energy Roadmap Amendment Act 2025 cemented the Crisafulli government’s stance on climate action and the transition to a cheaper, more sustainable energy system, with $1.6 billion dedicated to propping up coal and just $400 million to be divided between renewables, storage and gas.

The targets scrapped by the Queensland LNP were for 50 per cent renewables by 2030, and 80 per cent by 2035. 

The government’s planning department appears to have a particular dislike of wind generation, having repealed the state approvals for two major wind projects since being elected – Moonlight Range and the proposed 1.2 gigawatt (GW) Forest Wind project – off the back of planning rule changes.

In January, fellow Queensland government-owned CleanCo announced its decision to dump plans to buy the new 360 MW Moah Creek wind project and, instead, sign a tiny offtake deal with an almost 10 year-old wind farm.

In a statement at the time, CleanCo said the option to buy Moah Creek “does not align with its current strategic activities” given “changing energy market conditions”, likely referring to the state government’s scrapping of renewable energy targets and its vow to keep burning coal until 2050.

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