Energy In Queensland
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Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
's energy policy is based on the year 2000 document called the ''Queensland Energy Policy: A Cleaner Energy Strategy''. The
Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the state government of Queensland, Australia, a Parliament, parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Government is formed by the party or coalition that has gained a majority in the Queensland Legislative Assembly, ...
assists
energy development Energy development is the field of activities focused on obtaining sources of energy from natural resources. These activities include the production of renewable, nuclear, and fossil fuel derived sources of energy, and for the recovery and re ...
through the Department of Energy and Water Supply. The state is noted for its significant contribution to
coal mining in Australia Coal is mined in every state of Australia. The largest black coal resources occur in Queensland and New South Wales. About 70% of coal mining, coal mined in Australia is exported, mostly to eastern Asia, and of the balance most is used in Elec ...
. The primary fuel for electricity generation in the state is coal with
coal seam gas ''Coalbed methane'' (CBM or coal-bed methane), coalbed gas, or coal seam gas (CSG) is a form of natural gas extracted from coal beds. In recent decades it has become an important source of energy in United States, Canada, Australia, and other co ...
becoming a significant fuel source. Queensland has 98% of Australia's reserves of coal seam gas. An expansion of energy-intensive industries such as mining, economic growth and population growth have created increased demand for energy in Queensland. In 2006, Queensland became the biggest emitter of
greenhouse gas Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are the gases in the atmosphere that raise the surface temperature of planets such as the Earth. Unlike other gases, greenhouse gases absorb the radiations that a planet emits, resulting in the greenhouse effect. T ...
es in Australia due to its reliance on coal power and road transport. A 2005 government report highlighted the state's vulnerability to rising oil prices. Queensland was the state to first to produce commercial oil, the first to find natural gas and the first to supply a capital city with natural gas by pipeline. It has Australia's largest onshore
oil field A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the prese ...
, the
Jackson oil field Jackson oil field is the largest onshore oil field in Australia. It is in Durham, Shire of Bulloo in southwestern Queensland, approximately west of Thargomindah. Jackson oil plant is an oil processing facility near the field. It processes o ...
. It was also the first state to use a form of hydro-electric power at Thargomindah when water pressure from a well sunk into the Great Artesian Basin was harnessed to generate electric power.


Electricity market

The state has a current generating capacity of over 15,000 MW.Electricity generation
Business and industry portal. The State of Queensland. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
The highest
peak demand Peak demand on an electrical grid is the highest electrical power demand that has occurred over a specified time period (Gönen 2008). Peak demand is typically characterized as annual, daily or seasonal and has the unit of power. Peak demand, pe ...
for electricity in Queensland for which data is currently available was 8,891 MW and occurred on 18 January 2010. Queensland's resources sector creates a strong demand for electricity at mines, smelters and refineries, which are often located in regional Queensland. Two interconnectors between Queensland and New South Wales allow the state to export power south. The first was the Terranora interconnector, commissioned in 2000. The second to be commissioned was the
Queensland – New South Wales Interconnector The Queensland – New South Wales Interconnector (QNI) is a 330 kV AC interconnection between New South Wales and Queensland, Australia. The link was commissioned in 2001. It consisted of double-circuit 330 kV lines between Armidale, ...
(QNI) in early 2001. The QNI initially had a capacity of 300 MW. With improvements to the electricity systems at either end, the capacity has more than doubled, and currently Queensland can export up to 1380 MW of electricity, or import up to 880 MW. More than 75% of the additional generating capacity built since the creation of the
National Electricity Market The National Electricity Market (NEM) is an arrangement in Australia's electricity sector for the connection of the electricity transmission grids of the eastern and southern Australia states and territories to create a cross-state wholesale ele ...
(NEM) is in Queensland, explaining the relatively large difference between the state's generating capacity and demand. In April 1985, the SEQEB dispute saw electricity workers walk off the job over stalled wage negotiations.
Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...
and
South East Queensland South East Queensland (SEQ) is a Bioregion, bio-geographical, Megalopolis, metropolitan and Statistics, statistical Regions of Queensland, region of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland in Australia, with a population of ...
experienced rolling blackouts and 1,000 union members lost their jobs. The electricity generation sector was deregulated in 2007 by former Premier
Peter Beattie Peter Douglas Beattie (born 18 November 1952) is an Australian former politician who served as the 36th Premier of Queensland, in office from 1998 to 2007. He was the state leader of the Labor Party from 1996 to 2007. Beattie was born in Syd ...
. In the same year, the Queensland Government banned the development of nuclear power facilities in Queensland. Because there are fewer people in remote and regional Queensland electricity is subsidised by a Community Service Obligation payment made to distributors such as
Energex Energex is an Australian-based and wholly Queensland Government-owned Electric utility, electricity company that distributes power to 1.5 million homes and businesses across the region of South East Queensland. The boundaries of the company’ ...
and Ergon. The
Queensland Competition Authority The Queensland Competition Authority (QCA) is an independent statutory authority that promotes competition as the basis for enhancing efficiency and growth in the Queensland economy. It was established by the Government of Queensland in 1997. ...
, acting under the ''Electricity Act 1994'', calculates the Benchmark Retail Cost Index which is used to adjust electricity prices on an annual basis.


Coal

In the 2007–08 financial year, 88% of Queensland's
electricity generation Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy. For electric utility, utilities in the electric power industry, it is the stage prior to its Electricity delivery, delivery (Electric power transm ...
was fuelled by black coal, 10% from gas and 2% from renewable sources. The energy policy of Queensland stipulates that the government will not issue further generating licences for new coal fired power stations unless world's
best practice A best practice is a method or technique that has been generally accepted as superior to alternatives because it tends to produce superior results. Best practices are used to achieve quality as an alternative to mandatory standards. Best practice ...
low emission technology is used and can facilitate
carbon capture and storage Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a process by which carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial installations is separated before it is released into the atmosphere, then transported to a long-term storage location.IPCC, 2021Annex VII: Glossary at ...
technology in the future. Access to numerous
coal mines Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...
, including 10 mines in the major coal-producing region of the
Bowen Basin The Bowen Basin contains the largest coal reserves in Australia. This major coal-producing region contains one of the world's largest deposits of bituminous coal. The Basin contains much of the known Permian coal resources in Queensland includ ...
, provided an abundant fuel source which historically was cheaper to produce when compared to renewable sources, as the social, health and climatic costs of burning coal were not accounted for. The IPCC has identified that coal cannot be used for power generation beyond 2050, if warming is to be kept below 1.5C.


Oil

By international standards Queensland has no significant
oil reserve Oil and gas reserves denote ''discovered'' quantities of petroleum, crude oil and natural gas from known fields that can be profitably produced/recovered from an approved development. Oil and gas reserves tied to approved operational plans file ...
s. The first commercial production of oil in Australia began at Moonie in 1962. Further oil deposits were discovered in
South West Queensland South West Queensland is a remote region in the Australian state of Queensland which covers . The region lies to the south of Central West Queensland and west of the Darling Downs and includes the Maranoa, Queensland, Maranoa district and parts o ...
in the 1980s. Australia's largest onshore
oil field A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the prese ...
is the
Jackson oil field Jackson oil field is the largest onshore oil field in Australia. It is in Durham, Shire of Bulloo in southwestern Queensland, approximately west of Thargomindah. Jackson oil plant is an oil processing facility near the field. It processes o ...
. An oil pipeline runs from Jackson to Brisbane. In 2003, the pipeline burst open at Lytton causing Queensland's largest-ever oil spill. Queensland has most of Australia's 30 billion barrels of known
oil shale Oil shale is an organic-rich Granularity, fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture of Organic compound, organic chemical compounds) from which liquid hydrocarbons can be produced. In addition to kerogen, general compos ...
resources. In 2008, a 20-year moratorium on oil shale mining was enacted because of environmental concerns. The ban was lifted in early 2013, allowing commercial production to begin at a
Queensland Energy Resources Queensland Energy Resources Limited (QERL) is an Australian oil shale mining and shale oil extraction company with the headquarters in Brisbane. It is the developer of the Stuart Oil Shale Project, Stuart (Yarwun) and McFarlane oil shale project ...
plant at Gladstone.
Ampol Ampol Limited is an Australian petroleum company headquartered in Sydney, New South Wales. Ampol is the largest transport energy distributor and retailer in Australia, with more than 1,800 Ampol-branded service stations across the country . Amp ...
(previously named Caltex Australia) owns the largest fuels refinery in Queensland,
Lytton Oil Refinery Lytton Oil Refinery is an oil refinery in the Brisbane suburb of Lytton, Queensland, Lytton in Queensland, Australia. It is owned and operated by Ampol. It has a capacity of 6.5 billion litres of crude oil per year. The facility employs 55 ...
, which is located at Lytton. It began operations in 1965 and produces a range of petroleum products which meets more than half of the state's fuel needs. A second fuel refinery,
Bulwer Island Refinery Bulwer Island Refinery was an oil refinery on Bulwer Island near the mouth of the Brisbane River in Queensland, Australia. It is now a petroleum import and storage terminal. It was built by Amoco in the 1960s, taken over by BP in 1984 and conve ...
, was located nearby at
Bulwer Island Bulwer Island is a reclaimed tidal mangrove island at the mouth of the Brisbane River in the suburb of Pinkenba, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is named for Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, the British Colonial Secretary who separated Queen ...
and is owned by BP. It closed in 2015 and was converted to a fuel import terminal. A much smaller refinery is the
Eromanga Refinery Eromanga Refinery is a small, specialist oil refinery near Eromanga in South West Queensland, Australia. Eromanga is the largest oil producing area in mainland Australia. The refinery is approximately west of Brisbane, and almost as far from an ...
near the oil fields of south western Queensland. It produces specialist low-particulate diesel for the underground mining and transport industries. The Queensland Oil Vulnerability Taskforce was established by Peter Beattie in May 2005. The task force was led by the Member for Hervey Bay, Andrew McNamara, aiming to investigate supply constraints, rising prices and the impact of
peak oil Peak oil is the point when global oil production reaches its maximum rate, after which it will begin to decline irreversibly. The main concern is that global transportation relies heavily on gasoline and diesel. Adoption of electric vehicles ...
on Queenslanders. The taskforce produced the McNamara Report which concluded that the state was highly vulnerable to rising oil prices and that alternative energy sources could not be easily substituted. The key recommendation was for the Queensland Government to develop a mitigation strategy and action plan.


Gas


Coal Gas

Coal gas (derived from coal) was produced at Petries Bight on the Brisbane River from 1864.


Natural Gas

The first natural gas find in Australia was at
Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...
in 1900 as a team was drilling a water well. The first gas pipeline in Australia, the
Roma to Brisbane Pipeline The Roma to Brisbane Pipeline or Wallumbilla to Brisbane Pipeline is a natural gas pipeline in Queensland, Australia. It is one of five major natural gas pipelines in the state. It is the oldest operating natural gas pipeline in Australia. Op ...
, was 435 km in length and was opened on 17 March 1969 by Bjelke-Petersen. It connected the Roma gasfields to Brisbane for commercial and domestic use, a first for a capital city in Australia. The pipeline was extended by 756 km in 1996 to connect with gasfields at Ballera. Another pipeline, which was completed in April 1998, travels north from Ballera to
Mount Isa Mount Isa ( ) is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive mines in world history, based on co ...
. Natural gas is extracted from both the
Cooper Basin The Cooper Basin is a Permian-Triassic sedimentary geological basin in Australia. The intracratonic rift basin is located mainly in the southwestern part of Queensland and extends into northeastern South Australia. It is named after the Coop ...
and
Eromanga Basin The Eromanga Basin is a large Mesozoic sedimentary basin in central and northern Australia. It covers parts of Queensland, the Northern Territory, South Australia, and New South Wales, and is a major component of the Great Artesian Basin. The Er ...
s. Natural gas is delivered directly to homes in the cities of Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Ipswich, Toowoomba, Maryborough, Hervey Bay, Bundaberg, Gladstone and Rockhampton. At some coal mines waste mine gas is collected and used to generate small amounts of power. At Moranbah North coal mine a 45 MW power station generates base load power and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Oaky Creek coal mines collect enough mine gas to generate 20 MW of power.


Coal seam gas

Commercial production of coal seam gas first occurred in Australia in December 1996 at the Dawson Valley project, near the Moura coal mine. Most of the gas produced in Queensland now comes from
coal seams Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extra ...
. According to 2005 figures, Queensland has 98% of Australia's proven and probable reserves of coal seam gas. In the 2009/10 financial year investment in the coal seam gas industry increased 43% compared to the previous financial year. In 2010, it was announced that the Curtis LNG Project at
Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British politican, starting as Conservative MP for Newark and later becoming the leader of the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party. In a career lasting over 60 years, he ...
would process coal-seam gas transported via a 540 km underground pipe from the
Surat Basin The Surat Basin is a geological basin in eastern Australia. It is part of the Great Artesian Basin drainage basin of Australia. The Surat Basin extends across an area of 270,000 square kilometres and the southern third of the basin occupies a larg ...
into
liquified natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume o ...
for export. Coal seam gas in the Surat Basin is 98%
methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The abundance of methane on Earth makes ...
making it relatively pure and requiring little treatment before use. On 21 April 2011, the largest sales and purchase agreement in Australia by annual volume of LNG was signed in Brisbane. The binding agreement between Origin Energy (with joint venture partner
ConocoPhillips ConocoPhillips Company is an American multinational corporation engaged in hydrocarbon exploration and production. It is based in the Energy Corridor district of Houston, Texas. The company has operations in 15 countries and has production in t ...
) and
Sinopec China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, or Sinopec Group, is a Chinese oil and gas enterprise based in Chaoyang District, Beijing. The SASAC administers China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation for the benefit of State Council of the ...
will see 4.3 million tonnes of LNG exported to China via Gladstone from 2015 for the next 20 years. The impact of coal seam gas exploration and production has raised numerous environmental concerns. In a 2011 audit of coal seam gas wells it was found that 34 wells out of 2,719 or 2% had detectable leaks. Five wells had leaks that were at a flammable level.


Renewables

Renewable energy policy is defined under the Queensland Renewable Energy Plan which falls under the auspices of the Office of Clean Energy. Queensland has signed up to the Renewable Energy Target Scheme which aims to produce 20% of Australia's energy from renewables by 2020. The current energy policy of Queensland will not set targets above the national mandates for renewable energy because of its significant economic impact. Despite having a clear statutory definition of renewable energy and an ample supply of sunlight,
renewable energy development Renewable energy commercialization involves the deployment of three generations of renewable energy technologies dating back more than 100 years. First-generation technologies, which are already mature and economically competitive, include b ...
in Queensland lags behind other
Australian states The states and territories are the national subdivisions and second level of government of Australia. The states are partially sovereign, administrative divisions that are self-governing polities, having ceded some sovereign rights to the feder ...
, All of Queensland's 21
sugar mill A sugar cane mill is a factory that processes sugar cane to produce raw sugar or plantation white sugar. Some sugar mills are situated next to a back-end refinery, that turns raw sugar into (refined) white sugar. The term is also used to refer ...
s generate seasonal power from the burning of
bagasse Bagasse ( ) is the dry pulpy fibrous material that remains after crushing sugarcane or sorghum stalks to extract their juice. It is used as a biofuel for the production of heat, energy, and electricity, and in the manufacture of pulp and building ...
. Excess power not used by the mill is returned to the grid. The mill at Rocky Point on the Gold Coast substitutes other green waste when sugar cane waste is not available. In Brisbane, there is a
waste-to-energy Waste-to-energy (WtE) or energy-from-waste (EfW) refers to a series of processes designed to convert waste materials into usable forms of energy, typically electricity or heat. As a form of energy recovery, WtE plays a crucial role in both wa ...
facility at the Rochedale dump and a second is planned for the Willawong landfill.


Geothermal

In remote South West Queensland, there are large
geothermal Geothermal is related to energy and may refer to: * Geothermal energy, useful energy generated and stored in the Earth * Geothermal activity, the range of natural phenomena at or near the surface, associated with release of the Earth's internal he ...
resources which remain mostly untapped. Near-boiling water is taken from the
Great Artesian Basin The Great Artesian Basin (GAB) of Australia is the largest and deepest artesian basin in the world, extending over . Measured water temperatures range from . The basin provides the only source of fresh water through much of inland Australia. ...
to power a small geothermal power plant at
Birdsville Birdsville is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Diamantina, Queensland, Australia. The locality is on the Queensland border with both the Northern Territory and South Australia. The town is situated north of the South Australian bord ...
. Here the Cooper Basin and Eromanga Basins contain some of the world's hottest fractured
granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...
which is also close to an adequate water supply for a power station. In August 2010, the Queensland Parliament passed the ''Geothermal Energy Act 2010'', which supersedes the ''Geothermal Exploration Act 2004''. The new law incorporates production requirements and includes changes to land access policy. October 2010 saw the announcement of the Coastal Geothermal Energy Initiative by the Queensland Minister for Mines and Energy, Stephen Robertson. The aim of the initiative was to identify geothermal resources which are close to the coast with its existing electricity transmission lines and major population centres. Potential was identified in four geological basins; Tarong Basin, the Maryborough Basin South, the Duaringa Basin North and the Hillsborough Basin. In 2008, the Queensland Geothermal Energy Centre of Excellence (QGECE) was opened at the
University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...
, with the goal of research and development into large-scale electricity generation from geothermal energy. This centre was later renamed to Energy Futures, and is now known as the Centre for Multiscale Energy Systems (CMES). The primary research goals of this centre remain within the field of renewable energy, with a current focus on green hydrogen usage.


Wind

Queensland has been slow to adopt
wind power Wind power is the use of wind energy to generate useful work. Historically, wind power was used by sails, windmills and windpumps, but today it is mostly used to generate electricity. This article deals only with wind power for electricity ge ...
compared to other states and territories in Australia.
Windy Hill Wind Farm Windy Hill Wind Farm is a wind power station near Ravenshoe on the Atherton Tableland, Queensland, Australia. It has 20 wind turbines with a generating capacity of 12 MW of electricity, providing enough power for about 3,500 homes. The cost ...
is the only wind powered power station currently operating in Queensland. There is a small facility with two turbines on
Thursday Island Thursday Island, colloquially known as TI, or in the Kalaw Lagaw Ya, Kawrareg dialect, Waiben or Waibene, is an island of the Torres Strait Islands, an archipelago of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait. TI is located approximately ...
and another single turbine on
North Keppel Island Keppel Bay Islands are part of both a national park and a scientific national park in Queensland, Australia, respectively 538 km and 518 km northwest of Brisbane. Keppel Bay Islands National Park includes 13 islands, positioned in Kep ...
.


Hydro

Queensland has some hydro electricity facilities in
North Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its Tropical North Queensland, trop ...
and South East Queensland. The largest is
Wivenhoe Hydroelectric Power Station The Wivenhoe Power Station is situated between the Splityard Creek Dam and Lake Wivenhoe in the Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality of Split Yard Creek, Somerset Region, Queensland, Australia. The Splityard Creek Dam is located in hills ...
which can produce a maximum of 500 MW when required. The use of bore water at
Thargomindah Thargomindah (frequently shortened to Thargo) is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Bulloo, Queensland, Australia. The town of Thargomindah is the administrative centre for the Shire of Bulloo. In the , the locality of Thargomindah h ...
from 1893 has been described as Australia's first hydro-electricity scheme. It was operational until 1951.


Solar

The Solar Bonus Scheme ran from 2008 to 2013, and rooftop solar is now in 27% of detached homes in south-east Queensland totalling more than 937MW of solar panels. Over 1/3 of owners now receive 6.4 cents per
kilowatt hour A kilowatt-hour ( unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a non-SI unit of energy equal to 3.6 megajoules (MJ) in SI units, which is the energy delivered by one kilowatt of power for one hour. Kilowatt-hours are a commo ...
for surplus power fed back to the grid, and the remaining still receive the scheme's 44c/kWh. The Office of Clean Energy provides a Solar Hot Water Rebate for Queenslanders purchasing and installing a
solar hot water Solar water heating (SWH) is heating water by sunlight, using a solar thermal collector. A variety of configurations are available at varying cost to provide solutions in different climates and latitudes. SWHs are widely used for residential an ...
system or
heat pump A heat pump is a device that uses electricity to transfer heat from a colder place to a warmer place. Specifically, the heat pump transfers thermal energy using a heat pump and refrigeration cycle, cooling the cool space and warming the warm s ...
. The installation of rooftop solar systems in Queensland is being hampered by claimed deficiencies in the electricity grid. These claims state that because the grid was designed to deliver power from the station to the home and not vice versa the grid is unable to withstand the power generation from roof top solar. However these claims seem based around excess power more so then actual deficiencies with the loss of income as one of the main concerns listed. For power to 'feed back' as described, you would need to generate enough solar power to meet the requirements of the area serviced by the local substation before it could feed back.


Initiatives

A state government policy of diversification of fuel sources has led to initiatives like the 13% Gas Scheme. The mandatory target for Queensland electricity retailers has subsequently been raised to 15% for 2011 and 18% by 2020. Eligible fuels include natural gas, coal seam gas,
liquefied petroleum gas Liquefied petroleum gas, also referred to as liquid petroleum gas (LPG or LP gas), is a fuel gas which contains a flammable mixture of hydrocarbon gases, specifically propane, Butane, ''n''-butane and isobutane. It can also contain some ...
and waste gases. These efforts and the 2006 halt to land clearing in Queensland, form part of the state's strategy to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities intensify the greenhouse effect. This contributes to climate change. Carbon dioxide (), from burning fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, oil, and natural gas, is the main cause of climate chan ...
. The Office of Clean Energy was established in 2008 to assist companies in developing clean energy projects for the state. It also administers the Solar Bonus Scheme whereby households and other small customers are paid for surplus electricity which is returned to the electricity grid. The Queensland Government started the Solar Schools program with the aim of reducing schools energy consumption by 30%. The initiative, which began in 2008, involves installing a minimum of two KW solar panels at every Queensland state school. Creche and kindergarten services were also provided funding for the installation of the solar power systems. The
Western Corridor Recycled Water Project The Western Corridor Recycled Water Scheme, a recycled water project, is located in the South East region of Queensland in Australia. The scheme is managed by Seqwater and forms a key part of the SEQ Water Grid constructed by the Queensland Gov ...
in the state's south-east, has been built to ensure water supply to power stations is maintained during
drought in Australia Drought in Australia is defined by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology as rainfall over period greater than three-months being in the lowest decile of what has been recorded for that region in the past. This definition takes into account that ...
. The Queensland Government has made its own
energy efficiency Energy efficiency may refer to: * Energy efficiency (physics), the ratio between the useful output and input of an energy conversion process ** Electrical efficiency, useful power output per electrical power consumed ** Mechanical efficiency, a rat ...
improvements under the Government Energy Management Strategy. In May 2011, the Queensland Government announced the Queensland Energy Management Plan. The aim of the plan is to reduce peak demand and offset the need to commission a new major power station. It includes 28 initiatives ranging from mandatory off-peak tariffs for hot water systems, improved access to off-peak power for pool owners operating pool filters and a trial of managing energy use in
vending machine A vending machine is an automated machine that dispenses items such as snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and lottery tickets to consumers after cash, a credit card, or other forms of payment are inserted into the machine or payment is otherwise m ...
s. The plan also includes the establishment of an Energy Management Centre to provide advice on energy efficiency and a special tariff for energy-hungry appliances, such as air conditioners, which can be switched off by electricity distributors at peak times. If the plan were to be fully adopted it could save A$3.5 billion in future infrastructure costs.


Projects


Completed reference projects in energy


Key energy projects in progress

*APLNG (
Origin Origin(s) or The Origin may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics and manga * ''Origin'' (comics), a Wolverine comic book mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 2002 * ''The Origin'' (Buffy comic), a 1999 ''Buffy the Vampire Sl ...
and
ConocoPhillips ConocoPhillips Company is an American multinational corporation engaged in hydrocarbon exploration and production. It is based in the Energy Corridor district of Houston, Texas. The company has operations in 15 countries and has production in t ...
) * GLNG (
Santos Santos may refer to: People *Santos (surname) * Santos Balmori Picazo (1899–1992), Spanish-Mexican painter * Santos Benavides (1823–1891), Confederate general in the American Civil War Places *Santos, São Paulo, a municipality in São Paulo ...
,
Petronas Petroliam Nasional Berhad, commonly known as PETRONAS (stylised in all caps), is a Malaysian Multinational corporation, multinational petroleum, oil and natural gas, gas company headquartered in Kuala Lumpur. Established in 1974, it is a lega ...
,
TotalEnergies TotalEnergies SE is a French multinational integrated energy and petroleum company founded in 1924 and is one of the seven supermajor oil companies. Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas explorati ...
and
Korea Gas Corporation The Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS) is a South Korean public natural gas company that was established by the Korean government in 1983. KOGAS has grown into the largest LNG-importing company in the world and operates four LNG regasification t ...
) *QCLNG (
Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...
( QGC subsidiary)) In 2011, it was announced that the Kogan Creek Solar Boost would go ahead at
Brigalow ''Acacia harpophylla'', commonly known as brigalow, brigalow spearwood or orkor, is an endemic tree of Australia. The Aboriginal Australian group the Gamilaraay peoples know the tree as Barranbaa or Burrii. It is found in central and coasta ...
adjacent to
Kogan Creek Power Station The Kogan Creek Power Station is a 750 megawatt coal fired power station owned by CS Energy on the Darling Downs in Queensland. The $1.2 billion plant is situated at Brigalow, in the Surat Basin between Dalby and Chinchilla. Background Kog ...
. The project which uses superheated solar steam technology will be the largest integration of solar technology with a
coal-fired power station A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity. Worldwide there are about 2,500 coal-fired power stations, on average capable of generating a gigawatt each. They generate ...
in the world and the largest solar project in the Southern Hemisphere. The
Windorah Solar Farm The Windorah Solar Farm was Ergon Energy's first solar farm trial near the town of Windorah in the Shire of Barcoo, Queensland, Australia. The plant used five concentrated solar dishes or reflectors which were manufactured and installed by Sola ...
is
Ergon Energy Ergon Energy Network is a subsidiary of Energy Queensland Limited, which is itself a Queensland Government-owned company. Ergon distributes electricity to approximately 763,000 customers across the Australian state of Queensland (excluding South ...
's first solar farm trial near the town of
Windorah Windorah is a town and a locality in the Shire of Barcoo, Queensland, Australia. It is one of only three towns in the Shire of Barcoo in Central West Queensland. In the , the locality of Windorah had a population of 104 people. Geography Loca ...
. The A$4.5 million project provides a maximum of 180 kW for the town of about 100 people. The 6 GW CopperString
transmission line In electrical engineering, a transmission line is a specialized cable or other structure designed to conduct electromagnetic waves in a contained manner. The term applies when the conductors are long enough that the wave nature of the transmis ...
is a project to link Mount Isa to
Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...
and the
National Electricity Market The National Electricity Market (NEM) is an arrangement in Australia's electricity sector for the connection of the electricity transmission grids of the eastern and southern Australia states and territories to create a cross-state wholesale ele ...
, at different voltages. The power lines are expected to cost A$5 billion to develop and have a total length of 1,028 km. The CopperString project was postponed after
Xstrata Xstrata plc was an Anglo-Swiss Multinational corporation, multinational mining company headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It was a major producer of coal (and the world's largest exporter o ...
decided to source their electricity from a small gas fired power plant in Mt Isa. Contracts for the project were signed in 2021, and preparations started in July 2024, when construction began for accommodation of 500 people. The line may start construction in 2025.


Failed energy projects

The Stuart Oil Shale Project near
Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British politican, starting as Conservative MP for Newark and later becoming the leader of the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party. In a career lasting over 60 years, he ...
was Australia's first major attempt since the 1950s to restart commercial use of oil shale. The project completed a trial phase but was suspended during the environmental impact assessment of the next stage. The Zerogen power station project located near Stanwell Power Station was planned to be a leading proponent of
carbon capture and storage in Australia Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a technology that can capture carbon dioxide emissions produced from fossil fuels in electricity, industrial processes which prevents from entering the atmosphere. Carbon capture and storage is also used to se ...
. Funding for the project was cancelled in 2010 because it was not economically viable. The project included a detailed investigation into the viability of
Carbon capture and storage Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a process by which carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial installations is separated before it is released into the atmosphere, then transported to a long-term storage location.IPCC, 2021Annex VII: Glossary at ...
. A plan to build a 3,200 km long, A$5.5 billion gas pipeline from Papua New Guinea was abandoned by Exxon in early 2007. By then importing gas into Australia had become uneconomic. An underground
coal gasification In industrial chemistry, coal gasification is the process of producing syngas—a mixture consisting primarily of carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (), carbon dioxide (), methane (), and water vapour ()—from coal and water, air and/or oxygen. H ...
plant owned by Cougar Energy was closed down in July 2011 after the Department of Environment and Resource Management determined it posed a significant risk to
underground water Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidate ...
in the agricultural region of the
South Burnett The South Burnett is a peanut growing and wine-producing area on the Great Dividing Range, north of the Darling Downs, in Queensland. It is with the basin of the Burnett River. The area is within two local government areas, South Burnett Region ...
. The underground plant was one of three trial projects underway in Queensland.


See also

*
Contribution to global warming by Australia Contribution may refer to: Music * ''Contribution'' (album), by Mica Paris (1990) ** "Contribution" (song), title song from the album *''Contribution'', a 1976 album by Shawn Phillips * A contribution concert is where a band plays in the songs ...
*
Energy policy of Australia Energy policy in Australia is managed by the states and territories as well as at the federal level. The federal government sets the broad energy framework, including national targets for renewable energy, emissions reduction, and energy secur ...
*
List of power stations in Queensland This is a list of active power stations in Queensland, Australia. Candidates for this list must already be commissioned and capable of generating 1 MW or more of electricity. Queensland has a diverse range of power generating types. Coal fi ...


References


External links


Queensland’s Vulnerability to Rising Oil Prices: Research Paper

Brisbane Electricity Supply Company and City Electric Light Company correspondence
State Library of Queensland State Library of Queensland (State Library) is the state public reference and research library of Queensland, Australia, operated by the Government of Queensland, state government. The Library is governed by the Library Board of Queensland, whi ...
{{Australia topic, title=
Energy in Australia Energy in Australia is the production in Australia of World energy resources and consumption, energy and Electricity generation, electricity, for consumption or export. Energy policy of Australia describes the politics of Australia as it re ...
, prefix=Energy in, VI=Victoria (state)