A billion-dollar wind farm with the potential to power more than 300,000 homes has opened in central Queensland after more than three years of construction.<\/p>\n
One of the country’s biggest wind farms, Clarke Creek, situated between Rockhampton and Mackay, is backed by billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest.<\/p>\n
“Capital is your major cost and then maintenance, and that is an unbeatable combination against oil, gas, fossil fuels,” Mr Forrest said.<\/p>\n
“Even dragging logs up to your cave and lighting a fire as a caveman would cost you more than the wind here.”<\/p>\n
Andrew Forrest at the opening of the Clarke Creek wind farm. (ABC Capricornia: Katrina Beavan)<\/p>\n
The company behind the farm, Squadron Energy, is a subsidiary of Tattarang, a private investment group owned by Andrew and Nicola Forrest.<\/p>\n
The newly erected 100 wind turbines, each standing 207 metres tall, have a generation capacity of 450 megawatts \u2014 enough to power roughly 330,000 homes.<\/p>\n
Three-quarters of the power has been sold to the Queensland government-owned Stanwell Corporation on a 15-year contract.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Turbines like these soar above the mountain ranges at 207 metres high. (ABC Capricornia: Katrina Beavan)<\/p>\n
Stage one involved 620 jobs during construction, with 350 of those onsite, and 30 ongoing jobs.<\/p>\n
Pending approval, another 88 turbines will be rolled out for stage two.<\/p>\n
Trials and tribulations<\/p>\n
The project has not been without controversy.<\/p>\n
Construction was paused in mid-2023 for a “project management review” when Squadron Energy took over from Windlab.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, 26-year-old Nicholas Hohua, an employee of crane contractor Boom Logistics, died while working on the site.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Nicholas Hohua, pictured here with daughter Aina, died at the Clarke Creek Wind Farm in July. (Supplied: Hohua family)<\/p>\n
Workplace Health and Safety Queensland said the investigation into the incident was ongoing.<\/p>\n
The project has also drawn the ire of Member for Capricornia Michelle Landry, who, for many years, has criticised its impact on local roads, telecommunications and the environment.<\/p>\n
“When you look at how they’ve chopped the mountains down \u2026 it does cause a big scar on the land,” Ms Landry said.<\/p>\n
“It’s the traffic on the roads. It’s that environmental damage, it’s the fact that people keep ringing us saying that koalas are getting clubbed.”<\/p>\n
She said her office had received a stream of complaints from constituents about the project, among others in the region, which she said often caused angst among neighbours in the small rural communities.<\/p>\n
She suggested that instead of clearing land to build wind farms on the coastlines, they should be erected on rehabilitated mining sites.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rob Wheals says there has been a lot of misinformation about the project. (Supplied: Squadron Energy)<\/p>\n
Squadron Energy chief executive Rob Wheals said, to date, no koalas had been harmed by the project, and it had made a conscious effort to involve the community in the roll-out.<\/p>\n
“There’s been a lot of misinformation out there, I can categorically say there have been no koalas harmed or killed on this project,” Mr Wheals said.<\/p>\n
He added the company had contributed funds to the state government to upgrade roads.<\/p>\n
A feasibility study for a permanent upgrade of the local Telstra tower is also underway, with the project proponents to finance it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Andrew Forrest says he is committed to repaying government funds. (ABC Capricornia: Katrina Beavan)<\/p>\n