Plans to build the biggest wind farm on Australia’s main grid have been pared back and hybridised, to add a huge solar farm and a four-hour battery energy storage system next to a major new transmission line in Queensland’s north.
Renewable Energy Partners (REP) this week officially launched the website for the proposed Bogunda Energy Hub, nearly two years after unveiling early-stage plans to develop up to 5 gigawatts of wind south-east of Hughenden.
Those plans have now morphed into a hybrid renewables hub combining up to 850 megawatts (MW) of wind, 500 MW of solar and a 500 megawatt (MW), four-hour battery next to the huge CopperString transmission project that will connect Queensland’s North West Minerals Province to the main grid.
REP says the project – which retains the name meaning “big wind” in the local Yirandhali language – is currently in the early stages of development, with ecological surveys and grid connection options studies “set to begin shortly.”
“The site is ideally located adjacent to Powerlink’s CopperString project which is set to be complete by 2032 (subject to approvals) and will connect North West Queensland to the National Electricity Market (NEM),” the website says.
