North Queensland needs a new link to unlock massive wind and solar resource

Queensland needs around 15 gigawatts (GW) of wind and about 8GW of utility solar plus rooftop solar to go 100% renewable and be self-sufficient.

Queensland has around 39GW of wind resource and about 45GW of  solar resources. Both the quality and the quantity resource are in the north of the State with “North Queensland Renewable Hub” having enough resource by itself to run the State. The resource in the South of the State is not enough to provide a high level of renewable power to Queensland.

Before the last election, the Queensland Government had a  “Powering North Queensland” plan, but nothing much has come of it.

The Australian Energy Market Operator, in developing the Integrated System Plan, did not see the need for the North Queensland resource despite the fact that not only is it generally of higher quality but also the wind is negatively correlated with wind in other  States.

Read the story from RenewEconomy by David Leitch - “North Queensland needs a new link to unlock massive wind and solar resource."