Queensland Government-owned corporation Stanwell has acquired a 436.5 megawatt wind farm, making it the largest publicly owned wind farm in the country.

Located southwest of Kingaroy, 200 kilometres from Brisbane, the Tarong West wind farm project has been purchased by Stanwell from global renewable energy developer RES.

The wind farm – which recently received developmental approval – will feature 97 wind turbines and produce enough clean energy to power 230,000 homes.

Describing the project as “a game changer” for Queensland’s renewable energy future, minister for energy and clean economy jobs Mick de Brenni said: “Keeping Queensland assets in Queensland hands is how we have kept power prices down and it’s how we are going to achieve our renewable energy targets of 70% by 2032 and 80% by 2035.”

The project – which has received $776.1 million in government funding – will also bring around 200 construction jobs and hundreds more indirect jobs to the South Burnett region of the state.

“Adding the 436.5MW Tarong West Wind Farm project into Stanwell’s renewable energy portfolio is an exciting chapter not only in our renewable energy story, but also Queensland’s,” Stanwell CEO Michael O’Rourke said. 

“It will play a critical role in transitioning our energy portfolio and brings us closer to our goal of having 9 to 10GW of large-scale wind and solar capacity by 2035.”

A final investment decision is expected early 2025.

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