New forestry bill to fast-track plans for 1.2-GW wind farm in Queensland

The government of Queensland, Australia, will fast-track the implementation of an up to 1.2-GW wind park on state land after introducing new legislation for forest wind schemes.

The Forest Wind farm project, awarded state government approval in February, is a joint venture between CleanSight and Siemens Financial Services. It will install up to 226 turbine on state forest land between Gympie and Maryborough, in the Wide Bay-Burnett region. Construction is planned to begin as early as the last quarter of 2020.

State development minister Kate Jones said last week that the introduction of the Forest Wind Development Bill 2020 marked the successful completion of the detailed assessment stage of the AUD-2-billion (USD 1.3bn/EUR 1.2bn) project. According to the statement, the bill will outline a pathway for the project developer to obtain tenure to access, occupy, develop and manage the land.

Separately, the scheme is being advanced through the government’s Exclusive Transactions framework.

The project is expected to create around 440 construction jobs and 50 full-time positions for the power plant's operation.

(AUD 1.0 = USD 0.653/EUR 0.600)

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