Infrastructure developer ACCIONA Energía has announced plans to develop the 1000MW Herries Range Wind Farm, an expansion of the MacIntyre Wind Precinct in Queensland, Australia.
The MacIntyre Wind Precinct currently consists of two wind farms; the 923MW MacIntyre farm, owned by ACCIONA Energía and Ark Energy, and CleanCo’s proposed Karara Wind Farm.
The Herries project will double the MacIntyre Wind Precinct capacity to 2,000MW.
“Today we’re proud to announce that we have commenced development activities for the Herries Range Wind Farm to add an additional thousand megawatts of renewable energy to Queensland’s energy mix,” said ACCIONA Energía’s managing director in Australia Brett Wickham. “With this project we expect to dramatically accelerate the decarbonisation of Queensland’s electricity grid.”
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The announcement was made during a visit to the Port of Brisbane by Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, where the premier and cabinet ministers inspected wind turbine components awaiting transport to the MacIntyre Wind Precinct 60km west of Warwick.
“Our goal is to roll from construction of MacIntyre straight into the neighboring Herries Range. This means that workers can move from one large scale project to the next whilst staying in the same area,” said Wickham.
“In total, the MacIntyre Precinct would reach a capacity of 2GW, representing an overall investment of more than AUD$4 billion ($2.7 billion) and enough clean energy to supply the equivalent of 1.4 million homes per year.”
Energy minister Mick de Brenni said in a statement: “This precinct will support ongoing local jobs and local supply chain opportunities with hundreds of millions of dollars in procurement from businesses based in and around towns like Warwick, Inglewood and Toowoomba.”
The 1,023MW MacIntyre Precinct, already under construction, will be equipped with 180 new 5.7MW turbines.
The wind farm will be constructed on land used mainly for sheep farming. Current farming practices will continue during the construction and operations phases of the wind farm.
The site was selected due to its exposure to consistent winds across this part of the country.
