The Australian Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) has approved the Lotus Creek Wind Farm, proposed for a site approximately 20 km west of St Lawrence and 175 km north-west of Rockhampton in central Queensland.

The project involves the construction and operation of up to 55 wind turbine generators and associated infrastructure with an estimated output capacity of approximately 341 megawatts.

The decision was made under section 133 (1) of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (the EPBC Act) .

In granting the approval DCCEEW has approved the controlling provisions proposed for the listed threatened species protected under the EPBC Act.

The proposal must be undertaken in accordance with the conditions specified in the approval, which include clearing limit and gaining the Minister's approval prior to construction of offset plans that will provide a conservation gain, as well as various management plans and reporting requirements.

The approval decision notice with final conditions is available on the Lotus Creek Wind Farm page (EPBC Number 2020/8867) on the EPBC Act Public Portal.