The Lotus Creek Wind Farm construction project in central Queensland has cleared a critical grid integration milestone by receiving Grid R1 approval, a key step in the Australian Energy Market Operator’s generator registration process.

The approval confirms that the wind farm’s design meets the performance requirements set out in Australia’s National Electricity Rules, allowing the project to move forward with remaining connection and commissioning activities.

CS Energy, which fully owns the development, estimates the total investment at A$1.3 billion (about US$850 million) and plans to bring the 285 MW facility online by 2027.

The wind farm will host 46 Vestas EnVentus V162‑6.2 MW turbines, each with a blade‑tip height of roughly 230 m, delivering an expected annual generation of about 850 GWh.

Powerlink Queensland is delivering the required transmission infrastructure, including a new 14‑km, 275 kV line and the Glencoe Substation, which connect to a dedicated Lotus Creek Substation.

Construction of the transmission towers and substation has been completed, with testing, commissioning and energisation now underway.

Downer Group, in partnership with Powerlink, is assembling 34 transmission structures, employing drone technology from Infravision to assist with conductor stringing.

The project, situated on privately owned cattle grazing land about 20 km west of St Lawrence, lies within the traditional lands of the Barada Barna and Barada Kabalbara Yetimarala peoples.

Financial backing includes A$624.3 million from Queensland’s Renewable Energy and Hydrogen Jobs Fund and an additional A$300 million from coal royalties allocated in the 2023–24 state budget.

During construction, the project is expected to create roughly 400 jobs, with 10‑15 permanent positions once the wind farm is operational, supplying electricity to about 170,000 Queensland homes.