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Federal government will cover cost of connecting massive new Queensland wind farm to national grid

Federal government will cover cost of connecting massive new Queensland wind farm to national grid

The federal government has agreed to cover the multi-million-dollar cost of connecting what will be one of the world’s biggest wind farm precincts to Australia’s power grid.

Its investment arm, the Clean Energy and Finance Corporation (CEFC), has committed $160 million to connect the Southern Renewable Energy Zone (REZ), to the national electricity market.

The REZ currently consists of two projects in the Southern Downs — the 103-megawatt Karara Wind Farm, controlled by state government-owned renewable generator CleanCo, and the 923MW Macintyre Wind Farm, owned and operated by renewable energy firm Acciona.

It requires 65 kilometers of overhead transmission lines and two switching stations to be connected to the energy market.

Powerlink – the company in charge of managing and running Queensland’s power network – began constructing the infrastructure in March.

Queensland Energy Minister Mick de Brenni said CEFC will absorb the cost and that the new investment would unlock up to 500MW of network hosting capacity.

“Connecting the massive project to the national grid not only unlocks $2 billion worth of investment, it also increases reliability of power across the three east Australian states, with clean Queensland-made energy,” he said.

High tension power lines on steel towers in a paddock at Oxley Creek Common at Rocklea on Brisbane's southside.
The deal will improve capacity in the energy grid.(ABC News: Chris Gillette)

Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the investment was a “game changer.”

“A better future is powered by cleaner, cheaper and more reliable energy,” he said

“This CEFC investment is a game changer when it comes to hooking these new sources up to the grid … and we want to see more of it,” he said.

This is the first partnership between a Queensland government-owned company and the CEFC.

Federal Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen said it would increase renewable supplies to households and businesses in southern Queensland and the east-coast of Australia.

A shot of a wind turbine from below.
Connecting the wind farm precinct to the grid is a “game changer”, Mr Chalmer says.(ABC News: Philippa McDonald)

“The best way to put downward pressure on energy prices is to ramp up investment in renewables, transmission and storage and that is exactly what this $160 million commitment will do,” Mr Bowen said.

The Macintyre wind farm precinct is expected to be operational in 2024.

Mr Chalmers did not commit to a time frame on when households and businesses would benefit from the infrastructure.

“Clearly, projects of this size and this significance can’t be turned on overnight and require some kind of run-up.

“But what this investment means [is] it will be delivered faster than otherwise,” he said.

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Categories
Australia

Commercial fishers eyeing compensation as six offshore wind farm zones get green light

Commercial fishers eyeing compensation as six offshore wind farm zones get green light

Trawl fishers have ramped up calls for compensation following the federal government’s announcement that it will establish six offshore wind energy zones.

Waters off Gippsland, Portland, the Hunter Valley, Illawarra, northern Tasmania, Perth and Bunbury have been earmarked for development.

But fishers are concerned they will be excluded from the sections of the ocean where the turbines are built.

The most progressed wind farm proposal is the Star of the South project in Gippsland.

“I think it’s obvious that Australia is moving to a lower carbon future,” South East Trawl Fishing Industry Association executive officer Simon Boag said.

“The problem we have is that the federal government has already given out rights … to go commercial fishing.

“Then they appear to be giving out a second set of rights to put in wind farms.

“The two are obviously to some extent mutually exclusive.”

An offshore wind farm
If built, the Star of the South wind farm may resemble Veja Mate in Germany.(Supplied: Star of South)

Bottom line for fishers

Mr Boag’s organization represents the interests of owners, fishers and sellers in the trawl fishery of south-eastern Australia.

He said fishing or quota rights sat “in the balance sheets of fishing businesses”.

“Fishing businesses borrow against them. They’re bought and sold between fishing businesses,” Mr Boag said.

Fishers already work around oil and gas platforms in Bass Strait.

Mr Boag said the exploration phase for new oil and gas developments was intrusive for the industry, but the longer-term exclusion zones were only a few hundred square meters.

“These wind farms are more or less a 500-square-kilometre exclusion,” he said.

“We’re assuming trawlers can’t go in there.

“What we need and want is that if we’re giving up our rights to go fishing and they’re going to build a wind farm and we’re all going to enjoy the electricity … that the fishing industry is adequately compensated.”

A 60-day consultation period was initiated alongside last week’s wind energy zone announcement.

Star of the South acting chief executive officer Erin Coldham encouraged people who used the waters to engage in the consultation process.

She said Star of the South’s turbines would be between seven and 25 kilometers from the coast of Woodside Beach, McLoughlins Beach and Port Albert.

“We’re aiming to get power into the grid by the end of this decade and we think that’s important, noting Yallourn [power station] is closing by 2028,” Ms Coldham said.

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Categories
Business

Gippsland offshore wind projects await federal government declaration

Gippsland offshore wind projects await federal government declaration

The burgeoning offshore wind industry is waiting on a declaration from the federal government to begin key works on the water.

There are five offshore wind farms planned off the Gippsland coast, with hopes to tap into the existing transmission infrastructure of the Latrobe Valley.

Under new legislation governing offshore wind farms passed by Parliament last year, operators are only allowed to undertake particular activities in zones designated for offshore wind development.

The most progressed project, Star of the South, plans to erect up to 200 turbines in the windy Gippsland waters.

Acting chief executive Erin Coldham said making the declaration would end the uncertainty facing the industry.

“We look forward to the declaration process starting. The end result would provide certainty for offshore wind projects in the region, like ours, which are standing ready and keen to progress,” she said.

“In the meantime, we’re getting on with our environmental assessments, onshore studies and ongoing community consultation to keep things moving.”

A map of the four proposed zones for wind farms
Gippsland has four offshore wind farms in the works.(abcnews)

Country manager for company BlueFloat Energy Nick Sankey echoed the sentiment.

“We are moving forward with our project development as much as we can, but until we have a feasibility license we are not able to deploy certain monitoring equipment and undertake a lot of studies in our site area that we would like to do,” he said.

General manager of development at Wellington Shire Brent McAlister has previously told the ABC there was a significant impetus for making the declaration quickly.

“It’s critical because there is a competition in the world for investment dollars and capital in offshore wind,” he said.

“But the money will go to those countries that have regulatory and licensing regimes in place so it’s crucial to attract investment.”

Meanwhile, the Victorian government has set a target of 4 gigawatts (GW) of generation by 2035 and 9GW by 2040.

To that end, the state government has funded four companies for scoping works: $19.5 million for Star of the South, $16.1 million for Corio and $2.3 million for Flotation Energy.

ABC Gippsland has lodged five requests to discuss offshore wind with federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen since his re-election.

Renewables remain cheapest option

A recent report by Australia’s key scientific research agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), has reaffirmed that renewables remain the cheapest new-build option for energy.

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