Queensland’s renewable energy pipeline has received a major boost with the Queensland Government’s approval of the Boulder Creek Wind Farm.

Located in the Central Queensland Renewable Energy Zone, the $750M project will be the first wind farm of its scale for the Rockhampton region and is expected to create up to 350 jobs during construction and 15-20 ongoing jobs during operation.

Paul Stangroom, Development Director for Epuron, the company behind the proposal, said it will be a significant project for the region.

“It is an exciting step that the Boulder Creek Wind Farm has been granted approval by the Queensland Government,” he said.

“This project will be a great opportunity for the Rockhampton region to benefit from Australia’s clean energy transition.”

The project straddles Rockhampton Regional Council and Banana Shire Council local government areas and involves up to 60 wind turbines.

Once operational it is expected to generate up to 372 megawatts of clean electricity, enough to power about 215,000 homes, and contribute to the state government’s target of 50 per cent renewable energy generation by 2030.

“The Boulder Creek Wind Farm site is ideal for wind energy generation. It has an excellent wind resource and is close to the existing transmission network,” said Mr Stangroom.

“Central Queensland is blessed with natural resources, so it is well placed to continue as an energy generation hub into the future.”

The application is yet to be approved under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and once that has been achieved the project will start preparing for construction.

Construction is expected to begin towards the end of 2022 and take 18-24 months, with the wind farm to be fully operational by 2025.

Epuron will host community information sessions for the project in the nearby towns of Westwood and Mount Morgan in December.