Queensland holds half of proposed Australian onshore wind capacity but builds slowest

Most Queenslanders will not see any of the state's 543 wind turbines on their daily commute; you have to drive almost three hours out of Brisbane to rural areas to see one. If all approved projects proceed, installed wind capacity could reach about one and a half times Queensland's current coal-fired power capacity, treasury figures show.

Experts attribute the slow progress to multiple factors, including community opposition and planning uncertainty. Former Origin Energy executive Tony Wood, now a Grattan Institute senior fellow, said community angst, policy uncertainty, slow transmission build-out, and higher construction costs were among the causes.

"We've got a very large pipeline, but blocked pipelines don't flow very well," he said.

The Crisafulli government recently changed planning rules to require wind and solar developers to conduct social impact assessments and secure community benefit agreements, similar to fossil fuel projects, and cancelled two major wind projects, Moonlight Range and Forest Wind, which combined could have powered about 760,000 homes. Wood said the government had also abandoned renewable energy targets without clearly explaining its position on renewables, frustrating investors.

Treasurer and Energy Minister David Janetzki said the government had an "open for business approach" and encouraged private investment in new generation. "Our Energy Roadmap is about economics and engineering over ideology, coal for longer, more gas and private sector investment into renewables," he said in a statement.

Cattle farmer Glen Franz, who has about 13 turbines within three kilometres of his property north of Dalby, said he was not anti-renewable but opposed wind farms near residential dwellings. "Obviously, there's a place for it, but it's not in these built-up areas, it's too closely settled," he said.

Queensland has 10 operating wind farms with more than 500 turbines, and 17 projects approved or under construction. The largest operational is the 923MW MacIntyre Wind Farm near Warwick, which can produce enough electricity to power about 620,000 homes. The biggest planned are Bungaban Wind Farm in the Western Downs and Wongalee Wind Energy Project west of Townsville, each of which could generate up to 1,400MW. Once complete, the total turbine count could reach 1,383.

By comparison, the United Kingdom, more reliant on wind power, has 7,353 onshore turbines in an area seven times smaller than Queensland.

Queensland Renewable Energy Council chief executive Katie-Anne Mulder said developers needed to consult communities and "work hard to earn their trust." She noted that 82 per cent of respondents to a survey believed the government's Energy Roadmap needed improvement for greater certainty, warning that "Queensland really risks missing out on those billions of dollars in private investment."

Wood said increased renewable generation had put downward pressure on wholesale electricity prices, but new transmission and storage, plus coal plant closures, could push prices back up. "Even though the cost of producing electricity from wind and solar is cheaper than coal, by the time you get it to where we need it, it's not much cheaper," he said. He added that building renewables fast enough to address climate change while maintaining reliable, affordable power was a challenge. "If we go too fast, we'll almost certainly muck it up and that's not good. But if we go too slow, climate change will eventually take over."