Acciona to build 1-GW-plus wind giant in Queensland

Spain's Acciona SA (BME:ANA) today announced that it will build a 1,026-MW wind farm complex in the Australian state of Queensland.

Touted as the biggest in Australia, the MacIntyre park is slated to begin commercial operations in 2024. The project will entail a total investment of AUD 1.96 billion (USD 1.17bn/EUR 1.07bn) over a three-year period, the bulk of which will be mobilised between 2022 and 2023.

Acciona's plans are supported by CleanCo, the publicly-owned renewable electricity generation company of Queensland, which will own and operate a 100-MW portion of the MacIntyre complex near Warwick. CleanCo has also comitted to buy power from 400 MW of Acciona capacity under a 10-year power purchase agreement (PPA).

The Spain-based energy company said it plans to start building the park in the middle of next year and gradually connect the capacity to the grid. It is currently in talks with offtaker-investor partners for its 926 MW of capacity within the complex.

MacIntyre will be equipped with 180 units of Nordex Group’s Delta4000 turbines, with individual capacities of up to 5.7 MW, which will be installed on land used for sheep farming. Once fully commissioned, it will be able to produce enough electricity to meet the annual demand of around 700,000 homes and offset almost 3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

(AUD 1.0 = USD 0.598/EUR 0.546)

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