ACCIONA Energia has announced the development of the Herries Range Wind Farm, an expansion of the MacIntyre Wind Precinct that will double its capacity to 2000MW.
The 1023MW MacIntyre Precinct, already under construction, will be equipped with 180 5.7MW turbines.
It currently consists of two wind farms: MacIntyre (923MW), owned by ACCIONA Energia (70%) and Ark Energy (30%), and government-owned energy company CleanCo’s proposed Karara Wind Farm.
“Today we’re proud to announce that we have commenced development activities for the Herries Range Wind Farm to add an additional thousand megawatts of renewable energy to Queensland’s energy mix,” said ACCIONA Energia Managing Director in Australia Brett Wickham.
“With this project we expect to dramatically accelerate the decarbonisation of Queensland’s electricity grid.
“Our goal is to roll from construction of MacIntyre straight into the neighbouring Herries Range. This means that workers can move from one large scale project to the next whilst staying in the same area.
“In total, the MacIntyre Precinct would reach a capacity of 2GW, representing an overall investment of more than A$4bn (€2.5bn) and enough clean energy to supply the equivalent of 1.4m homes per year.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk added: “Our Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan is all about bringing more cheaper, cleaner energy into the system, while building the Queensland economy and that’s exactly that this deal does.
“ACCIONA Energia are one of the world’s leading developers of renewable energy projects and this additional A$2bn commitment is a strong endorsement that Queensland is a renewable energy superpower.”