Cairn’s vision to be “the world’s most sustainable tropical region” is becoming clearer following the Federal Government’s approval of the proposed $380 million Mount Emerald Wind Farm near Mareeba.

Today’s approval announcement by the Minister for the Environment, Greg Hunt, follows State development approval in April and years of detailed research including 8,000 man-hours of on-site survey effort.

RELATED:

• <link wind-farm-to-inject-90-million-into-tab.12622.0.html>Wind farm to inject 90 million into Tablelands economy
• <link entsch-welcomes-renewables-deal.12617.0.html>Entsch welcomes renewables deal

Amid lagging economic indicators across the State, Advance Cairns chief executive Mr Mark Matthews said Mr Hunt’s announcement was “good news and good timing” for Cairns and the surrounding region.

“The multi-million Mount Emerald Wind Farm will deliver significant benefits for local economies, and support the sustainable development of our communities in the tropical north,” Mr Matthews said.

“I’m pleased to hear progress is being made on this project, the local business community has a wide range of skills suited to this project and is ready to go to work.

“Significant capital investment initiatives like the Mount Emerald Wind Farm project will send a message to global investors that the region is open for business.

“Wind energy is a clean energy source that is aligned with the region’s vision to be ‘the world’s most sustainable tropical region’,” he added.

The 180 MW wind farm, a joint venture between Ratch and property developers Port Bajool, includes up to 63 turbines to potentially generate enough electricity to power 75,000 homes each year. Ratch owns a number of wind farms around Australia including the Windy Hill wind farm near Ravenshoe, which has been operating for over 10 years.

Ratch Project Director Terry Johannesen confirmed local economies would benefit significantly from the project.

“Our assessment shows that $100 to 150 million will be spent domestically with the majority of this investment to be spent locally,” Mr Johannesen said.

“Expenditure during operations is expected to be between $13 million to $17 million dollars per year.

“Employment during the construction phase can be expected to peak above 150 while 15 permanent jobs will be created to operate the wind farm including operations and maintenance, environmental and land management staff and administration,” he said.

JV Partner Port Bajool director John Morris said his company and Ratch both shared a long term involvement in the Far North Queensland region and would continue to work together to deliver benefits for local communities.

“We will address the problem noted in the recent Infrastructure Australia Northern Australia Audit Report that electricity availability and higher cost in Northern Australia remain a major issue to both residents and business,” Mr Morris said.

“Our Community Benefit Fund will also invest $200,000 per year to fund projects or initiatives that will benefit the local community once the wind farm commences operation,” he said.

The Mount Emerald Wind Project will boost Queensland’s renewable energy credentials significantly. Of the 3,500MW of wind generation capacity currently in the country, Queensland only supplies around 12MW from wind farms in Ravenshoe and Thursday Island.

“Our vision to deliver this project and a cleaner energy future for Queensland is very much aligned with the State government which is vigorously pursuing plans to generate 50 percent of the state's electricity from renewable energy by 2030,” Mr Johannesen said.