Australia's largest publicly-owned wind farm will be built in Queensland, with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk pouring $766 million into the project as she seeks to reboot the state's energy policy.
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The project in the South Burnett, northwest of Brisbane, will include up to 150 turbines and potentially generate enough electricity to power 230,000 homes.
"It will also create around 200 jobs during construction and 15 ongoing jobs when operational," Ms Palaszczuk said.
"It's investments like this that will ensure we deliver on our net-zero ambitions and our promise to Queenslanders to become a global renewable energy superpower."
The project is about 30 kilometres southwest of Kingaroy, in the state's Southern Queensland Renewable Energy Zone.
Ms Palaszczuk has signalled a major climate and energy announcement at her State of the State address on Wednesday.
Energy Minister Mick de Brenni said the project would increase the state's renewable energy fleet by seven per cent.
"It will eliminate a million tonnes of CO2 emissions each year from our energy system," he said on Monday.
"That's the equivalent of taking 320,000 cars off the road."
Treasurer Cameron Dick said the Tarong West wind farm project would be funded through the Queensland Renewable Energy and Hydrogen Jobs fund.
Building the wind farm through the publicly-owned Stanwell Corporation means the state will have dispatch control of significant renewable generation capacity, he said.
Stanwell CEO Michael O'Rourke said the project marked a significant milestone for the publicly owned corporation.
"The Tarong West Wind Farm project supports decarbonisation of our existing portfolio and will help us to meet our customers' demand for renewable energy products.
Final approvals are expected in 2024.
Renewable projects make up about 21 per cent of Queensland's energy market, Ms Palaszczuk said.
While the premier would not be drawn on whether the state's coal fired power stations will be shut down earlier than planned, she hinted she was set to announce a major shift on energy.
"It's probably one of the most important State of the State address that I will ever give as premier," she said.
"It basically is our energy plan."
The Queensland Greens want to see a closure timeline included in the plan along with workforce support measures to transition coal fired power stations to renewables by 2030.
"(The government's) emissions targets are the real elephant in the room," the party's energy spokesman Michael Berkman said.
"If they don't stop burning coal by 2030 we'll breach our Paris obligations and cook our climate."
Australian Associated Press
