Wind farm optimism

THE company behind a $370m Ravenshoe wind farm project blackballed by Northern Australian Minister Keith Pitt is optimistic the project will go ahead without federal financial support.

On Wednesday Mr Pitt exercised veto powers to block French firm Neoen from receiving Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) funding for the Kaban Green Energy Hub at Ravenshoe, about 120km west of Cairns.

Neoen received loan approval in December following a deal struck with CleanCo Queensland to supply 110MW of wind energy in October 2020.

The project would create 250 local jobs about 6km northeast of Ravenshoe.

Neoen Australia managing director Louis de Sambucy was “disappointed” to hear NAIF would not proceed with the funds for the scheme.

“(However) our focus remains on delivering Kaban,” he said.

“Neoen remains committed to Kaban and the opportunities it presents for energy affordability, reliability and emissions reductions in Queensland.

“The project combines a 157MW wind farm contracted with CleanCo at a competitive electricity price, with a network improvement in Far North Queensland. Our focus remains on delivering Kaban.

“We are now actively exploring all options and are hopeful of announcing a positive pathway forward in upcoming days.”

Mr Pitt’s claim the Kaban project was “inconsistent” with a federal government goal to increase power affordability has sparked accusations the project fell victim to “an ideological war” on renewable energy projects.

“I am not convinced that the project will result in lower energy prices,” Mr Pitt wrote in a leaked letter to the head of NAIF. Energy generation was set to begin in 2023 following a construction kick-off originally slated for early 2021.

Labor Senator Murray Watt said only $350m of a $5bn NAIF budget had been released.

“So it’s very disturbing that … NAIF finds a project that it wants to fund and the minister comes in over the top and says they can’t fund it,” he said.

“It’s extremely worrying that we see a minister prepared to take unprecedented action to kill off a wind farm and kill off the jobs.”

Senior campaigner with climate action group 350 Australia Shani Tager slammed government for a perceived support of fossil fuels.

“Minister Pitt has abused his power in vetoing this project,” she said.