The Australian state of Queensland (northeast) will invest 62 billion Australian dollars in sustainable energy. Prime Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk announced this on Wednesday.
The amount – both public and private investments – will go to infrastructure projects between this year and 2035. In total, 22 gigawatts of green energy capacity must be created, eight times more than the current capacity. As a result, by 2035, 80 percent of Queensland’s energy should be renewable.
For example, Queensland wants to build two new pumped-storage power stations, one of which would be the largest in the world. These are hydroelectric power stations in which water is pumped to a higher reservoir, after which electricity can be generated when necessary by letting the water flow downwards again. In this way, renewable energy can be stored.
Queensland is known as the heart of Australia’s coal industry, one of the world’s largest exporters of fossil fuels. Currently, most of the state’s energy supplies come from coal combustion.
Queensland’s electricity infrastructure is outdated. By taking advantage of the favourable conditions in Australia – with a sunny climate and sparsely populated areas – the state now wants to accelerate the transition to solar and wind energy.
The investment plan would also involve the creation of 100,000 new jobs by 2040.
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