• Over 97 operational and committed renewable energy plant projects
• Over 4 times global citation average for affordable and clean energy
• AU$4.5 billion Queensland Renewable Energy and Hydrogen Jobs Fund
• 9.8 gigawatts operational & and committed large-scale renewable energy and storage capacity

Renewable energy resources in Queensland

Queensland has world-class solar and wind resources, and the ideal geography to support long duration pumped hydro projects. We also have the critical minerals to produce the renewable energy technologies needed to decarbonise the world’s economy. Queensland is developing a strong clean energy industry, a well-trained high-tech workforce and has a leading sustainable energy research sector.

Solar energy

Queensland is the ‘Sunshine State’. We have a natural advantage in large-scale solar generation with an annual solar exposure of 18-24 megajoules per square metre (MJ/m²) compared to, for example, North America at 11-18 MJ/m². This has attracted over 45 existing and committed large-scale solar farms totalling over 3.7 gigawatts (GW) capacity. Leading research into solar-based solutions is taking place at Queensland’s Centre for Solar Biotechnology, where commercial applications for new solar powered green-algae technologies are being developed. Research at the Centre for Organic Photonics & Electronics includes next-generation applications for integrated perovskite solar cells. The Sun Metals Solar Farm in Townsville is the largest integrated industrial use solar farm in Australia, providing 22% of the power to the adjacent Sun Metals’ zinc refinery.

Wind energy

Queensland has some of the best terrain and wind resources in Australia. As of April 2024, Queensland’s existing 6 wind farms total over 1 GW of capacity, with a further 5 wind farms totalling over 1.8 GW under construction or financially committed. See Queensland’s electricity generation map.

Bioenergy

Energy from biomass and organic waste has played an important role in Queensland’s energy supply for many decades, with current installed capacity of around 500 MW in the state.

A diverse energy mix, supplemented with bioenergy, will help deliver the clean, reliable and affordable energy system needed to meet Queensland’s renewable energy targets and enable new industry growth, particularly in regional Queensland. This supports industries (such as the sugarcane industry) in modernising bioenergy generation and using waste products for bioenergy.

The Queensland Government is investing $4 million in the Queensland Bioenergy Fund to work with industry to investigate options and pathways to expand generation from underutilised biomass waste streams and support technology innovation.

Critical minerals and rare earth elements

The Geological Survey of Queensland provides geoscience information on geology and minerals. Queensland has many of the critical minerals and rare earth elements essential for much of the renewable energy infrastructure and related technologies needed for decarbonisation. These are vanadium (some of the richest deposits in the world), cobalt, indium, chromium, titanium, graphite, tungsten, antimony, rhenium, and neodymium. Queensland is investing AU$75 million to build Australia’s first Queensland Resources Common User Facility in Townsville. Initially targeting vanadium production, the facility will be equipped to trial processes for a range of critical minerals and rare earth elements. The AU$245 million Queensland Critical Minerals Strategy is supporting the development of our critical mineral industry.

Biomass and sustainable liquid fuels

Biomass is a renewable organic material that comes from plants and animals. It is an important renewable energy source in Queensland and is used as a feedstock for the production of low-carbon fuels. The Biomass mapping and data assessment tool shows that Queensland has approximately 17 million tons of available biomass, mainly from the sugar cane industry.

Queensland already produces cleaner fuel ethanol and biodiesel from these renewable sources, with abundant feedstocks that are suitable for investment in the production of sustainable aviation fuels and renewable diesel. The vision of the Queensland Biofutures 10-Year Roadmap and Action Plan is for Queensland to be an Asia-Pacific hub in biomanufacturing and biorefining. As global demand for these cleaner fuels increases, Queensland is partnering with the aviation, maritime and heavy vehicle sectors to help decarbonise and transition to more sustainable fuel sources. For example, Queensland delivered Australia’s first trials of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and containerised shipping using renewable diesel. Queensland has established strategic partnerships with companies such as Qantas to grow a SAF industry and is supporting industry to develop a range of biorefinery projects across the state.

The Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy has been a long-time leader in biofuel research in Queensland. Additionally, the production of renewable (green) hydrogen by water electrolysis is a key focus of the Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation.

Energy storage

Queensland has an existing 570 MW Wivenhoe pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) plant, and the 250 MW Kidston Pumped Storage Project is under construction. A further 7 pumped hydro projects are proposed in Queensland. (See Queensland’s electricity generation map.) Of these plants, the Borumba Dam and Pioneer-Burdekin long-duration projects, are managed by Queensland Hydro. Together, these projects are expected to deliver up to 7 GW of power and play an important role in storing renewable energy.

The Advanced Battery Facility (ABF) at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) tests different types and sizes of battery systems in real-world conditions, supporting Australia’s battery storage industry. QUT has developed Australia’s first pilot facility to rapidly prototype new battery formulations and cell types to produce commercial grade lithium-ion batteries. Next to this facility is the Queensland Energy and Storage Technologies Hub (QUEST Hub). The QUEST Hub, supported by the Queensland Government (AU$15 million) and industry and universities (AU$35 million), delivers targeted research to support our critical mineral processing and supply chains.

The QUEST Hub enables the testing and certification capabilities of the ABF to be further utilised and deliver projects that bridge the gap between university research and pilot scale processing - enabling large-scale commercial operation. The QUEST Hub will also help develop appropriate standards to ensure the safety of chemicals and other materials for industry workers and the community.

Renewable (green) hydrogen

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) demonstrated world-first technology for refuelling fuel cell electric vehicles (often abbreviated to FCEV’s) with hydrogen made from ammonia at the Queensland Centre for Advanced Technologies in 2018. The following year the Queensland Government announced  the Queensland Hydrogen Industry Strategy. Green ammonia is one of several options for efficiently storing and transporting green hydrogen. Green ammonia is produced from combining nitrogen and hydrogen using renewable energy.

Queensland has a competitive advantage when it comes to producing renewable hydrogen. The CSIRO HyResource identifies 27 renewable hydrogen production plants or projects in Queensland (as of February 2024). The CSIRO HyResource is a collaborative knowledge sharing resource supporting the development of Australia’s hydrogen industry including the Hydrogen projects map which provides a snapshot of Australia’s hydrogen projects.

Hydrogen fuel cell electric trucks (commonly abbreviated as FCETs)

Supported by the Hydrogen Industry Development Fund, the SunHQ Hydrogen Hub is expected to power 5 of the world's largest fuel cell electric trucks. The trucks will operate between the Sun Metals Zinc Refinery and the Port of Townsville.

Renewable hydrogen electric flight

Several Queensland aviation companies and airport corporations have formed the Hydrogen Flight Alliance and joined with researchers from Griffith University, Queensland University of Technology’s Centre for Clean Energy Technologies and Practices, Central Queensland University’s Centre for Hydrogen and Renewable Energy, and BOC Australia.

This alliance is focused on delivering Australia’s first commercial, emission-free, hydrogen-powered flight between Brisbane Airport and Gladstone Airport in 2026. Researchers have their sights set on developing a renewable hydrogen flight ecosystem to operate new Australian-made emission-free aircraft.

Queensland Decarbonisation Hub

The Queensland Decarbonisation Hub is a forum that brings together Queensland’s industrial, research and policy sectors. The Hub is tackling challenges and seizing the opportunities of decarbonisation while supporting Queensland’s transition to renewable energy. The Hub is a collaboration between the Queensland Government and 7 leading Queensland universities.

Queensland is home to leading research precincts, institutes, and centres and over 70 research organisations involved in energy research.

Leading energy research organisations

All health and medical research centres

Industry-research collaboration and commercialisation

• Power conversion technology

  The Queensland Micro-and Nanotechnology Centre has patented a new, more efficient, low-cost fabrication technology for silicon carbon (SiC) Schottky diodes. These diodes are highly sought-after for applications such as solar inverters and electric vehicle chargers. The centre has partnered with Quest Semiconductors in a pilot facility to fast-track production of these diodes for commercial use.

• Iron flow batteries

  The Queensland Energy Storage Technology (QUEST) Hub at QUT is collaborating with Energy Storage Industries - Asia Pacific to establish Australia’s first large-scale long-duration iron flow battery and the development of Australia’s first large-scale iron flow battery manufacturing facility.

• Renewable hydrogen

  As Queensland’s renewable hydrogen industry expands, the Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation has partnered with several industry leaders to provide an open collaboration platform. This platform will advance sustainability in hydrogen production, storage and transport.

• Advanced biorefining

  Working to develop advanced biorefinery technologies for biofuels, polyurethane foams and nutritional microbial oils from sugarcane fibres, the QUT Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy and the Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion are collaborating on a joint research project with Tully Sugar, Sugar Research Australia and Nourish Ingredients. This is supported by the Australia-China Science Research Fund.

• Smart energy systems

  CQUniversity SMART Grid Research Group has been working with long-term industry partner EleXsys Planet Ark Energy to design an islandable (offline, locally generated and stored electricity) microgrid for the remote Woorabinda community. The project is funded by the Queensland Microgrid Pilot Fund in alignment with CQUniversity’s Centre for Hydrogen and Renewable Energy.

• Biomass availability

  The UniSC Forest Research Institute is working with the International Energy Agency IEA Bioenergy Task 43 to address barriers of use of sustainably-sourced biomass supply chains. Technical and economic opportunities are being explored to increase the quantity, quality and value of biomass for different energy purposes and to boost confidence in biomass supply.

• Wind turbine materials

  The UniSQ Centre for Future Materials is working in partnership with ACCIONA Energia’s MacIntyre Wind Farm, one of the largest onshore wind farms in the southern hemisphere. The research seeks to improve the flame resistance of the fibre composite material used in wind turbines.

• Renewable hydrogen systems

  To evaluate the viability of decentralised and regional-scale renewable energy hybrid systems to generate hydrogen, the QUT Centre for Clean Energy Technologies and Practices has partnered with CS Energy and Sumitomo Electric in their H2XPORT - Hydrogen Process Research & Development project that is funded by Australian Renewable Energy Agency.

• Critical mineral refining

  Lava Blue’s Predictive Research into Speciality Materials (PRiSM) centre has partnered with the QUT Centre for Clean Energy Technologies and Practices to develop a process to manufacture high purity alumina (HPA). This is a critical mineral used in lithium-ion batteries and all light emitting diodes (LEDs). The project is looking at manufacturing HPA from a range of low-cost inputs, including mine waste.