A Queensland solar farm project, designed to minimise environmental impact, has been approved in less than three weeks.
Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt said the Hookey Creek solar project, to be located 25km northwest of Gympie, in the state’s south-east was approved in 17 days.
“This was made possible because the 267-hectare project site was designed so its environmental impacts were minimised,” Minister Watt said.
“It will be located on predominantly cleared land, so there’s an option for agricultural use on the site, including sheep grazing through the solar array, demonstrating once again that there’s ways for renewables and agriculture to work together.”
He said, when operational, the 100-megawatt solar farm would produce enough energy to power 40,000 homes and include a 200 MW battery energy storage system with up to eight hours of storage capacity.
“The solar farm will connect via underground cables to the Queensland SuperGrid with energy traded on the National Electricity Market.”
Minister Watt said the project would support up to 264 direct jobs in construction and several ongoing positions.
