Australian wind and solar project sized at 70 GW – as big as the country’s main grid
The world’s biggest wind and solar project, planned for a remote desert region in south-eastern WA, has lodged its application for state environmental approvals with an upgraded target of 70 GW of wind and solar – as big as the country’s main grid.
The Western Green Energy Hub envisages up to 3,000 wind turbines – sized at up to 20 MW each – and six million solar panels across 2.29 million hectares of pastoral leases and crown lands.
It will stretch hundreds of kilometres from north-west of Eucla, near the state border with South Australia, towards Cocklebiddy and north of the Eyre Highway to south of the Trans Australian Railway.
It will be built in stages over 30 years and aims to produce 3.5 million tonnes of green hydrogen a year.
The proposal is being put forward by InterContinental Energy, which specialises in projects at such a grand scale, and CWP Global.
Both are shareholders in the smaller 26 GW Australian Renewable Energy Hub in the Pilbara in the north of the state, which is now led by global oil giant BP.
The other partner is Mirning Green Energy Limited (MGEL), a commercial subsidiary of Mirning Traditional Lands Aboriginal Corporation (MTLAC), which is the registered native title representative body.
The AREH now appears geared more towards generating electricity for domestic consumption, particularly for the big mining projects in the region, and new green industries.
It will also likely have a green hydrogen component, but the Western Green Energy Hub appears fully committed to green hydrogen and ammonia, despite doubts over whether they'll be able to replace older, more reliable technologies.
Previous iterations of the Western Green Energy Hub had talked of a 50 GW project, but the scale of the project now is equivalent to the total capacity of the country’s entire main grid, the NEM.
It will also produce nearly as much power - hopefully generating over 200 TWh of renewable energy once fully developed.
The coastal and offshore components of the project will comprise a marine offloading facility, desalination plant, brine pipeline and an ammonia (or other vector) export pipeline.
A workers village – accommodating up to 8,000 people – is also envisaged.
The application to the EPA says up to 27,188 hectares of native vegetation, representing approximately 1.2% of the development envelope, will be cleared, but most of it temporarily.