Community & Business
27 July, 2023
'Gigantic' new wind farm rising up
Wide eyes and sore necks were not uncommon as interested Darling Downs residents recently toured one of the world’s largest onshore wind farms.
On every measure, everything is gigantic at the 1026 megawatt Macintyre Wind Farm site near Karara.
When completed, the wind farm will comprise 180 towers on 36,000 hectares of land leased for 30 years from 12 landholders.
Each European manufactured tower soars 150 metres or higher into the air, and is topped by
a turbine driven by three 80-metre blades.
Each tower carries a $13 million price tag, with six 100-tonne sections bolted together, 5.4 metres in diameter at the base, tapering to 4.2 metres.
On-ground work began in March 2022, and 50 of the 180 towers are already erected and 210 kilometres of internal access roads developed.
In optimal low wind conditions, a tower can be raised in two days - a good outcome when the largest cranes cost $50,000 a day.
The on-site camp is home to more than 500 staff, mostly working 10 days on, four days off.
Spanish multinational Acciona is financing, building and will manage operation of the massive
$2 billion project.
It hopes the 180 turbines will be ready for commissioning in the second half of 2024, with power being fed into two on-site substations before linking into the national grid at Tummaville.
By way of comparison, the Macintyre wind farm will produce 10 times the output of the Yarranlea solar farm.
