Fields of Green Returning to Columboola

I worked in the Chinchilla/Dulacca area of Queensland’s Darling Downs in the early ’80s. It was a sea of undulating green fields — wheat and sorghum. Then came the coal mines, the gas fracking, and the polarization with the “Lock the Gate” and “Coal for Breakfast” campaigns. Now the area has turned to renewable energy with the opening of a 180 MW wind farm running 43 turbines in the Dulacca area. Green fields indeed. “The V150-4.2MW wind turbines, supplied and installed by Vestas, are said to be the tallest installed in Australia, to date, at nearly 250 metres from base to tip. They may soon be trumped in size by the 6.2MW Vestas turbines to be installed at the Golden Plains wind farm in Victoria, but not in height. They will be 230m,” Sophie Vorrath of RenewEconomy writes.

“Dulacca is one of a growing number of Australian renewables projects now owned by UK-based renewables giant Octopus, and has a long-term offtake deal with Queensland government-owned utility CleanCo.” See the video of the delivery of the turbines here: The wind farm is the most recent in a string of renewable projects being built along the Warrego Highway, which runs from Toowoomba through to Charleville. It is part of the displacement of coal mining in the area. Crops can grow around wind turbines and sheep can graze around solar panels. That’s one nice benefit of the transition to clean energy.

The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) now has clean electricity coming from a solar farm at Columboola between Miles and Chinchilla. “The commencement of operations (on Dec 1) at the new solar farm at Columboola is an exciting time for QUT because not only does this farm now produce energy needed by our campuses, it demonstrates QUT’s commitment to reducing its carbon footprint,” Professor Margaret Sheil, QUT Vice-Chancellor, said.

“The 165 MW solar farm located in Columboola, 335 km north-west of Brisbane, will reduce QUT annual carbon emissions (CO2e) by 20,000 tonnes. The Columboola Solar Farm will feature solar technology such as bifacial panels that absorb light from both the front and the back, and single axis trackers that follow the sun.”

It is a win for the environment, the Queensland government’s clean energy targets, and the local farmers. We have the technology to write a greener future and it is being deployed.