Moonlight Range wind farm rejection fuels further uncertainty

The Queensland Conservation Council has called for accelerated Renewable Energy Zone planning and certainty for the renewable energy sector after the Queensland Government rejected an application to build a 450 MW wind farm near Rockhampton.

The Moonlight Range wind farm was called in to be reassessed by Planning Minister Jarrod Bleijie in March after being approved by the State Assessment and Referral Agency in December 2024.

The Queensland Conservation Council is concerned that the Crisafulli Government still has no mechanism to manage the impacts of renewable energy projects on nature or drive down energy emissions.

Queensland Conservation Council Senior Campaigner Stephanie Gray said

To slash Queensland’s pollution, replace our retiring coal stations, and manage power prices we need to make sure that more renewable energy and storage is coming online.

But the Queensland Government is sending a lot of mixed signals to the clean energy sector by revoking this approval, slowing work on Renewable Energy Zones and considering keeping our ageing coal power stations operating past the end of their technical lives. Effectively, they’re sending the signal that Queensland is closed for clean business.

Queensland’s ageing coal power stations were offline a staggering 78 times over the last summer period. We simply cannot afford to rely on these unreliable generators that drive up power prices when they break down.

The message from the electorate at the federal election was crystal clear: Australians support renewable energy and climate action. This support will only continue to grow as our communities are subjected to more frequent and ferocious unnatural disasters.

It’s obviously very important that renewable energy projects are well-sited and benefit the local community. That’s why we expressed concerns about Moonlight Range and its impact on remnant forest and threatened species habitat.

One of the key solutions to responsibly managing the rollout of well-sited renewable energy projects is for the Crisafulli Government to deliver Renewable Energy Zones that map where it’s appropriate to build projects.

Unfortunately the progress on Renewable Energy Zones has slowed at a time where regional communities and the renewable sector desperately need certainty.

We want to see David Janetzki and the Crisafulli Government commit to closing unreliable coal stations on time and responsibly plan the energy transformation via Renewable Energy Zones.

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