As of today, Queensland has around 21 per cent renewable energy, but the Australian government has just set an even higher target of 70 per cent by 2032.
At its core is the Queensland Renewable Energy Target (QRET), which is planned to hit 50 per cent by 2030, followed by 70 per cent in two years and finally 80 per cent by 2035. The state government is currently preparing legislation to bring the new target into law.
Other highlights of the plan, which the government claims has a total value of $62 billion, include the new deployment of 11.5GW of new rooftop solar PV and 6GW of embedded battery energy storage, as well as ending coal burning in state-owned power plants by 2035.
The $4.5 billion Queensland Renewable Energy and Hydrogen Jobs Fund will support investment, and while the government has highlighted the key role of private investment in enabling the energy transition, it has also highlighted the role of transmission and distribution (T&D) and much of the electricity generation infrastructure. Public ownership will continue.
The government also recognises that energy storage will play an important role in the energy system of the future, with $500 million in the fund to invest in large-scale and community-scale battery storage.
At the same time, two new pumped hydro storage (PHES) power stations will be built, which will be the largest pumped storage power stations in the world, and will have long-term energy storage (LDES) capabilities. Like transmission and distribution and power generation, these new assets will remain public ownership.
The PHES power stations will be built in 2035 at the Borumba Dam and the Pioneer/Burdekin area, Queensland Deputy Prime Minister Steven Miles said they would be larger than the Snowy 2.0 pumped-storage power station currently under construction, which builds on the existing power station Expansion of 2000MW/350000MW.
A state-level energy storage strategy is being prepared for release in 2024. In August, Queensland's largest battery energy storage system (BESS) project to date came online, the 100MW/150MWh Wandoan South BESS project in the state's Darling Downs region. .
The launch of the government plan comes after Victoria just announced one of its biggest-ever energy storage deployment targets, with the state targeting 6.3GW of energy storage on its grid by 2035.
The government claims the plan will help create 100,000 new jobs by 2040 and spur activity and investment in manufacturing.
Other aspects of the plan include ambitions to build gas turbines that can burn hydrogen, while the planned supergrid will connect solar, wind, battery and hydrogen power generation across the state.
