Overview of renewable resources in Queensland
The Powering Queensland Plan is our strategy to guide Queensland through the short-term and long-term challenges facing Australia's energy markets. As part of the Powering Queensland Plan, we have confirmed our commitment to a 50% renewable energy target by 2030.
Renewable energy resources
Renewable energy is an energy source that can be replenished naturally and used to produce electricity with minimal or nil net greenhouse gas emissions. Queensland is well placed to develop its renewable energy industry with high-quality renewable resources.
An overview of Queensland's renewable resources is provided below.
Solar
Queensland has very strong solar resources, particularly in areas located close to existing network infrastructure and major population centres. This provides Queensland a natural advantage in large-scale solar generation.
Wind
Queensland has high quality and nationally competitive wind resources. Recent improvements in wind turbine technology have assisted in unlocking Queensland's wind resources, and there are a number of major wind farms in Queensland now under development.
Biomass
Biomass is currently a major renewable energy source in Queensland. Given Queensland's strong agricultural industry, using biomass to generate electricity could provide a significant future contribution to Queensland's renewable energy capacity.
Hydro-electric
While Queensland has currently around 700 megawatts of hydro-electric and pumped storage hydro plant, previous studies have identified significant potential for these technologies in Queensland. To assess the future potential, we are undertaking a study to identify options for the deployment of these technologies across the state.
Geothermal
Queensland has good potential to develop geothermal energy resources, with significant resources of hot dry rocks. The majority of geothermal activities in Queensland are exploration with the only geothermal production activity occurring at the Birdsville geothermal power station.
Renewable energy resource maps
We publish data on existing and publicly announced upcoming renewable energy generation facilities within Queensland.
Our interactive electricity generation map allows you to explore where these renewable generation projects are and how they contribute to our energy mix.
Extensive resource mapping for wind, solar and geothermal has been undertaken in Queensland.
Find out more about renewable energy using these resources:
AREMI resources
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency, in collaboration with CSIRO Data61, provides free access to an online mapping tool AREMI to assist developers, financiers and policy makers in the early stage of project siting and scoping.
The spatial information includes ground and resource measurements, and information about the availability of existing infrastructure to assist with site identification.
Also consider...
- Read more about the Powering Queensland Plan: an integrated energy strategy for the state.
- Learn more about Queensland's current renewable energy projects.
- Last reviewed: 27 Mar 2018
- Last updated: 12 Aug 2022