AGL commits to building Australia’s biggest wind farm

About 200 jobs will be created during construction of Australia’s biggest wind farm, generating electricity to supply 260,000 homes when it is finished in mid-2019.

The joint venture, known as the Powering Australian Renewables Fund, will target about 1000 megawatts of renewable energy developments.

QIC will invest on behalf of its clients in the Future Fund and those invested in the QIC Global Infrastructure Fund.

AGL’s manager project development Evan Carless said the project would provide significant direct and indirect investment to Cooranga North and surrounding regions.

“Up to 200 jobs will be created during the peak of construction and up to 20 jobs once operational,” Mr Carless said.

“We are excited about what this means for the local community during and post-construction.

“It’s also great to see the support AGL is getting from equity partners and lenders for these projects, demonstrating the appetite for the private sector to invest in Australia’s energy transformation and support projects like this in regional communities.”

AGL and GE/Catcon will develop the wind farm, which will reduce CO2 emissions by 1,180,000 tonnes a year – the equivalent of taking 340,000 cars off the road.

The State Government also said another 200 megawatts of renewable power would be available when two north Queensland solar farms finalise connection arrangements to Powerlink’s transmission network.

The Hayman and Daydream projects, near Collinsville, are owned by Edify Energy.

During construction, the two new projects are expected to create approximately 250 jobs in the local region, with both solar farms anticipated to be operational in the second quarter of 2018.