CleanCo, Queensland’s third publicly-owned electricity generator, will commence trading on the national electricity market on 31 October.
CleanCo is working with ten short-listed renewable energy proponents to boost its starting pack, which includes the Wivenhoe and Swanbank E power stations near Ipswich, and three Far North Queensland hydro power stations.
Queensland Energy Minister, Dr Anthony Lynham, said that CleanCo will increase competition and supply in the Queensland electricity market, putting more downward pressure on electricity prices for Queenslanders.
“Preliminary analysis indicates CleanCo should reduce wholesale electricity prices on average by around $7 per MWh, which is expected to translate to an estimated $70 per annum saving for the average Queensland household.
“There’ll be more new jobs building these projects in regional Queensland and the extra generation will also make our power supply even more reliable.
“This takes Queensland one step closer to our target of 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030.
From 31 October, CleanCo will take over the 570MW Wivenhoe pumped storage hydro station, the 385MW gas-fired Swanbank E power station and the Kareeya, Barron Gorge and Koombooloomba hydro power stations from the state’s other publicly-owned generators, Stanwell and CS Energy.
CleanCo will also complete the Government’s Renewables 400 reverse auction, bringing up to another 400MW of solar and wind energy and battery storage into the market.
CleanCo will seek binding bids from ten proponents to supply renewable energy and recommend projects to government early next year.
The ten short-listed renewable energy proponents CleanCo is working with are:
| Proponent | Project | Location | Capacity (MW) | Capital cost ($ mill) | Jobs |
| ACCIONA Australia | MacIntyre Wind Farm at | Stanthorpe | 540 | >1000 | 1080 |
| Edify Energy | Majors Creek Solar Farm, with battery storage | Woodstock | 200 | 400 | 400 |
| First Solar Australia | Chinchilla Solar Farm, with battery storage | Chinchilla | 100 | 200 | 150 |
| Goldwind Australia | Clarke Creek Wind Farm, with battery storage | Between Mackay and Rockhampton | 800 | 1500 | 350 |
| Infigen Energy | Forsayth Integrated Facility, with battery storage | Forsayth, FNQ | 65 | 130 | 130 |
| Lyon Infrastructure Investment | Cape York Solar Storage | Lakeland, FNQ | 55 | 150 | 100 |
| Neoen Australia | Kaban Green Power Hub, with battery storage | Ravenshoe FNQ | 130 | 300 | 150 |
| Pacific Hydro Australia Developments | Haughton Solar Farm, with battery storage | Upper Haughton near Townsville | 100 | 200 | 240 |
| Vena Energy (formerly Equis) | Collinsville North Solar and storage project | Collinsville | 100 | 200 | 200 |
| Windlab | Lakeland Wind Farm | Lakeland, FNQ | 100 | 200 | 200 |
