Acciona unveils new gigawatt-scale wind project in Queensland

Spain’s Acciona Energia (BME:ANE) on Monday unveiled plans for a 1-GW-plus wind project in Queensland, Australia, which, coupled with some existing projects, would form a wind power generation precinct that tops 2 GW.

The renewable energy group plans to invest AUD 2 billion (USD 1.34bn/EUR 1.29bn) to build a new wind farm with 180 turbines within the 1,026-MW MacIntyre Wind Precinct in the Southern Queensland Renewable Energy Zone. The new 1,026-MW project called Herries Range will join the 923-MW MacIntyre and 102.6-MW Karara wind farms already under construction within the Precinct, which "will dwarf all other operating wind farms in Australia."

Located west of Warwick, the huge complex with 360 turbines will be capable of producing electricity for around 1.4 million local homes once fully operational.

“[..] Queensland’s renewable energy policies have given us the long-term confidence to keep investing in the sunshine state,” said Acciona Energia’s managing director Brett Wickham.

Apart from the two big wind projects, Acciona is also working on the development of a 600-MWp solar park near Queensland’s coastal city of Gladstone. The Spanish firm co-owns the MacIntyre project with Ark Energy Corp, a unit of Korean non-ferrous metals smelter Korea Zinc Co Ltd. It is in charge of building the Karara wind park that will be owned by CleanCo, Queensland’s publicly-owned utility.

Queensland has set a goal of sourcing up to 70% of its total power from renewable energy by 2032.

(AUD 1.0 = USD 0.668/EUR 0.645)

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