Brookfield Renewable has launched a partnership with Greenleaf Renewables to kick off an Australian renewable energy investment programme.

The partners said their first project would be the proposed 400MW Moonlight Range Wind Farm project in central Queensland. The Moonlight Range project, which also includes energy storage, is in the development phase and is expected to be ready for construction in 2025.\

Greenleaf Renewables director Chris Righetti, said: “The Moonlight Range Wind Farm will produce more than 1.1m MW hours of energy per year, enough to power approximately 200,000 homes.”

Righetti said the wind farm would contribute to the Queensland government’s renewable energy target of 50% by 2030.

Luke Edwards, Brookfield managing director and head of renewable power and transition in Australia, said: “The Moonlight Range Wind Farm will be the first of many renewable power projects for Brookfield in Australia as we expand our presence in this market.

“Approximately 8GW of coal-fired power generation capacity is expected to come offline by 2030 – this generation needs to be replaced with new sources of clean energy.“

Brookfield and US-based investor EIG, last week finalised the takeover of Origin Energy in a A$18.7bn take-private deal. Brookfield said it planned to invest at least A$20bn in new renewables and storage in Australia to significantly reduce Origin Energy’s carbon emissions.

Brookfield, which established an Australian presence in 2022, said Moonlight Range wind farm was expected to contribute to the 14GW of renewable power and storage that Brookfield intends to build for Origin Energy’s energy markets business.

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