Australia Govt: Qld renewable energy gets $160m boost

The Australian Government and Queensland Government have made an agreement to connect the country’s largest wind farm precinct to the National Electricity Market (NEM).

The $160 million commitment from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) for the Southern Downs Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) will help power 700,000 Queensland homes and create hundreds of local jobs.

Powerlink will use the financing to build and operate 65km of high-voltage overhead transmission lines and 2 new switching stations.

The new infrastructure will connect power generated from the region’s wind resources to the grid. This will provide additional network capacity of up to 1000MW, doubling the proposed 1000MW of renewable plant capacity to support the MacIntyre Wind Precinct.

Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said the best way to put downward pressure on energy prices is to ramp up investment in renewables.

‘We are delivering on our Powering Australia plan which includes a major boost to renewable energy supplies to help create jobs and reduce emissions across the nation.’

Queensland Energy Minister Mick de Brenni said, ‘Connecting the massive project to the national grid not only unlocks $2 billion worth of investment, it also boosts reliability of power across the 3 east Australian states, with clean Queensland-made energy.’