The Wambo wind farm is a 252MW onshore wind project under construction in the Western Downs region of Queensland, Australia.
The project is being developed by a 50:50 joint venture between Cubico Sustainable Investments and Queensland government-owned energy company Stanwell.
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Construction of the wind farm was officially launched with a ground-breaking ceremony held in June 2023.
Scheduled to commence operations in 2025, the wind farm is expected to produce sufficient electricity to power up to 170,500 households and offset up to 1.1 million tonnes (mt) of carbon dioxide emissions a year. The operational life of the wind farm is expected to be 30 years.
The project is being developed in line with the Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan to generate 70% of the state’s electricity from renewable sources by 2032. The project is expected to generate up to 450 jobs during construction.
Location and site details of Wambo wind farm
The Wambo wind farm is located 15km north-east of Jandowae in the Western Downs region of Queensland, Australia.
Situated north-west of Dalby, the project site lies within Queensland’s 2,000MW Southern Renewable Energy Zone in the Western Downs and in close proximity to Stanwell’s Tarong power stations.
Wambo wind farm development details
The project is planned to be developed in two stages with a combined wind power capacity of 500MW. Development works started with the ecological field investigation in November 2019.
Planning approval for a 500MW wind farm along with a 50MW/200MWh battery storage and associated infrastructure was granted by the Queensland government in October 2020.
The project received approval from the federal government under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999 in January 2022.
Site establishment works for stage one of the wind farm with 252MW capacity was started in April 2023.
Stage two of the project is under planning and development. Stanwell and Cubico have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for stage two, which will double the wind farm’s capacity to 500MW.
Wambo wind farm make-up
The Wambo wind farm will be installed with 42 Vestas V162-6.2 MW wind turbines for a total capacity of 252MW in stage one.
With a rotor diameter of 162m and a swept area of 20,612m² (221,866ft²), each wind turbine will generate up to 6.2MW of electricity.
Grid connection from the Wambo wind farm
The electricity generated by the wind farm will be fed into the Queensland SuperGrid, which is being developed as part of the Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan to boost grid capacity and storage by connecting the solar, wind, battery, and hydrogen projects across the state.
The wind farm is further planned to be connected to the 2GW Borumba pumped hydro project being developed at Lake Borumba, located west of the Sunshine Coast in southern Queensland. The Borumba project is expected to be commissioned in 2032.
State-owned electricity transmission system operator Powerlink Queensland is responsible to connect the project to the Queensland transmission network.
The wind farm is proposed to be connected to the existing transmission corridor from Tarong to Chinchilla through a 275kV transmission line, which will connect the new substation at the wind farm site to Powerlink’s Halys Substation located 11km south-east of the Kumbia township.
Financing
Stanwell was allocated A$192.5m ($128.5m) from the Queensland government’s Renewable Energy and Hydrogen Jobs Fund for its 50% share of investment in the Wambo wind project in March 2022.
Contractors involved
Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas is responsible for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and supply of 42 wind turbines for the project. It will also provide operations and maintenance services for the project for at least 30 years.
Environmental Resources Management Australia performed environmental studies for the project.
