Wind farm investment welcome and should lay a path for even more investment
Queensland Conservation Council strongly welcomes the Queensland Government’s announcement today of $362.5m to support renewable energy generation and transmission in southern Queensland, across the Wambo and Karara wind farms.
“We are pleased and relieved that the Queensland Government has finally made the first allocation of funds from the $2bn Renewable Energy and Hydrogen Jobs Fund announced nearly a year ago in May 2021.” Queensland Conservation Council Director, Dave Copeman, said.
“With this announcement today, and the Electric Vehicle subsidy and public charging funding announced yesterday, the State Government is taking the right steps to electrify our future with renewable energy. To truly tackle climate change and reduce our risk of further devastating events like the recent floods, we need the Government to take concrete steps to reduce our electricity sector emissions by transitioning away from coal fired power,” Mr Copeman said.
“The Queensland Government is developing a 10 Year Energy Plan. We need it to face up to the economic and climate realities and plan for closing our coal fired power stations and moving to a fully renewable energy system.”
“We are seeing other states, particularly New South Wales, plan for a future beyond coal. Queensland needs to catch up or risk losing investment and jobs to southern states.” Mr Copeman said.
“We also need the 10 Year Energy Plan not just to allocate money at an increased speed but to show how investments like these will deliver the best outcome for communities, existing industries and nature in their regions,” Mr Copeman said.
“Both Wambo and Karara are in the Darling Downs REZ, where a plan for how renewable energy development can provide long term benefits for communities while protecting and enhancing nature is sorely needed.
We look forward to further announcements from the Queensland Government on funding and planning to take us into the renewable energy future.
Media Contact: Dave Copeman Email: [email protected] Mobile: 0408 841595