The Whitsunday region will be a big beneficiary of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency’s (ARENA) announcement that two local projects will receive $19 million in ARENA support.
ARENA has announced that it will help finance the Collinsville Solar Power Station, a large scale solar project that will deliver 42 megawatts of electricity. The project will create an average of 50 direct jobs during its construction.
$9.5 million of the project’s $95.9 million construction cost will be provided by ARENA.
Another project in the region that will be supported by ARENA is the Whitsunday Solar Farm near Proserpine which will generate around 58 megawatts of renewable electricity.
ARENA will provide $9.5 million of the project’s $122.4 construction cost.
These two projects combined will power around 40,000 homes in Queensland.
Overall ARENA has funded six new projects in Queensland with a total of more than $500 million.
300 megawatts of electricity will be produced from the six new projects, powering 120,000 homes.
Mackay Conservation Group coordinator, Peter McCallum, said “this is great news for our region that has been struggling as the fossil fuel industry has moved away from the boom times.”
“Energy production is rapidly changing as more and more resources are put into finding ways to make renewable power more efficient.”
