Lacour Eyes Queensland as the Site for Australia’s Largest Wind Farm

Plans for the potential largest wind farm in Australia have now made their way to the planning department of the state government.
Lacour, an Australia renewable energy company, previously stated it had lodged a state development application for the $800 million project in November 2017. It proposed a wind farm of up to 195 turbines, and possibly around 800MW in installed capacity in the Isaac Region of Queensland.
According to a report published on RenewEconomy’s website, Lacour has offices in Brisbane and Perth and is also proposing to co-locate approximately 200MW of solar PV alongside the wind farm, and possibly a battery storage system. The project’s website stated that the wind and solar farm are presently in the feasibility stage, and work is being done on the technical, environmental, social, and economic facets of the project. Lacour said, “If the feasibility demonstrates a viable project then it is intended that construction would commence in 2019.”
In the proposal, the wind farm would extend across the land of eight local families, and the turbines would be located on a mountain range situated half-way between Rockhampton and Mackay. Meanwhile, the solar farm would be placed on the lower ground near the Marlborough-Sarina Road. Mark Rayner, the Project Leader, mentioned that the location had been selected for its high wind and solar resources. Another reason is that it is next to the present high voltage electricity transmission “backbone” of the local network. “The wind and solar farms would be co-located, but they are separate projects,” Rayner said.
If the project pushes through, it is expected to provide at least 350 jobs for the construction phase. The company revealed that as of late 2017, the project has enlisted more than 20 different companies during the feasibility phase.
The website says, “Lacour expects that people and companies from the towns around Clarke Creek between Rockhampton and Mackay will be able to provide a significant amount of the total workforce and services on the project. We want to encourage local people and businesses to be involved in the construction and operation of this project.”
View the full report here.