Treasurer and acting energy minister Curtis Pitt welcomed AGL Energy’s (AGL) announcement of the milestone on the 453MW wind farm, which is set to be the largest in the country.
“The Coopers Gap Wind Farm, located at Cooranga North in the Darling Downs, is a huge investment of approximately $850 million [£520m] that will support up to 200 jobs during construction and up to 20 ongoing operational jobs,” said Pitt.
He added: “It is expected construction of the Coopers Gap wind farm will begin later this year and be completed by mid-2019 with AGL naming a joint venture consisting of GE and Catcon as the successful tenderer for the engineering procurement contract.”
Once constructed the wind farm will produce approximately 1,510,000MWh of renewable energy annually, which can power more than 260,000 homes.
Arrangements for connection of the Coopers Gap Wind Farm to Powerlink Queensland’s electricity transmission network are in place, with a new substation to be constructed.
The Coopers Gap Wind Farm project has been secured by the Powering Australian Renewables Fund (PARAF), a partnership between AGL and QIC.
There are 19 other renewable energy projects financially committed or under construction in Queensland, said Pitt. “This pipeline of projects will bring strong benefits to regional Queensland, including $2.6 billion of investment, over 2,500 construction jobs and once operational they will more than double Queensland’s large-scale renewable energy capacity, helping put downward pressure on wholesale electricity prices.”
He added that, in addition to the Coopers Gap Wind Farm project, two solar farms had also reached a major milestone this week. Edify Energy’s Hayman and Daydream Solar Farm reached financial close and finalised connection arrangements to Powerlink’s transmission network.
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