Squadron hits turbine installation milestone at 450-MW wind project

Squadron Energy has reached the halfway point of turbine installation at its 450-MW Clarke Creek wind farm in Queensland and is already feeding electricity to the grid.

The 50th turbine at the site has been successfully installed and the early stages of commissioning and testing have begun, the company backed by Australian iron ore billionaire Andrew Forrest said on Monday.

Set to become one of the biggest ones in Australia, the Clarke Creek wind park is being built around 150 km northwest of Rockhampton. Once in operation, it is expected to generate enough electricity to meet the demand of about 330,000 homes in Queensland. More than 75% of the output is contracted by Queensland government-owned Stanwell Corp under a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) tied to 346.5-MW of the total capacity.

The Clarke Creek park, which entered construction in July 2022 and had its first turbine erected a year ago, will be the first stage of a hybrid renewable energy complex that will create a 1.2-GW hub consisting of up to 800 MW of wind, 400 MW of solar and some energy storage capacity. The second 350-MW phase of the hybrid project’s wind component is set to go live in 2026.

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