Irish company DP Energy is poised to build a €900 million wind farm in Australia after the country’s government approved the project.
Based in Buttevant, Co Cork, DP Energy designs and builds wind and solar powered electricity plants in Ireland, Britain, Australia and Canada. On Tuesday the company confirmed that Australia’s department of climate change had approved its plan to build a 430 megawatt (MW) wind farm in the northeastern state of Queensland.
DP dubbed the approval a “significant milestone” for the Callide wind farm project in Queensland’s Calliope Range, close to the cities of Gladstone and Bileola.
The power plant could supply up to 130,000 average homes with electricity, according to DP Energy. The company does not reveal how much it invests in individual projects, but the Queensland wind farm is likely to cost $1.5 billion Australian dollars (€900m).
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Hugh Cantwell, DP Energy Australia’s head of development, said the firm was pleased to have reached a key milestone. “We look forward to advancing the project towards construction, and making a meaningful contribution to Queensland’s renewable energy future.”
DP hopes to start building the Queensland wind farm this year. The plant will have 70 turbines.
The Irish company has already built the Port Augusta renewable energy park in South Australia in partnership with Spanish energy giant Iberdrola.
News that the Callide project won approval follows a recent announcement that DP also passed a critical stage in its plan for its proposed 700MW Euston wind farm in New South Wales.
Last year DP received approval for the Saamis Solar Project in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, north America’s biggest urban solar energy development.
Closer to home DP is working on plans for two onshore wind farms in Co Mayo capable of generating a total of 150MW along with several solar projects. The company is also weighing offshore wind opportunities around the Irish coast, and is looking at the possibility of producing green hydrogen to fuel power stations.
Overall DP has plans for renewable energy plants around the world that could generate up to 9,000MW of electricity.
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