Australia's 1.4GW Wongalee Wind Farm Receives Federal Environmental Approval

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 25, Windlab announced that the Wongalee Wind Farm, located in Flinders Shire, Queensland, Australia, has received approval under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC Act). The project had previously obtained Queensland state development approval. With the completion of this federal environmental approval, the project has now secured the major state and federal government approvals required to advance, and development work will continue toward financial close.

The Wongalee project is located in the pastoral region northeast of Hughenden. It is jointly advanced by Windlab and Fortescue under a joint development agreement and forms part of the North Queensland Super Hub, with a planned installed capacity of up to 1.4GW. As disclosed during the state approval stage, the project is expected to create approximately 500 jobs during construction.

Since 2021, the project's environmental assessment has involved a cumulative total of 9 seasonal ecological field surveys, with more than 1,050 hours of environmental survey work. Windlab has also maintained ongoing project consultations with local landowners and the Yirendali traditional landowners, and in 2024 signed a shared benefits agreement and a cultural heritage management agreement.

Wongalee is the second project in the North Queensland Super Hub to obtain both major state and federal approvals. The Prairie Wind Farm within the same project cluster received EPBC approval in 2025. Wongalee is planned to connect to the transmission system in northwestern Queensland and intends to utilize the additional grid connection capacity created by the CopperString transmission project.

According to previous disclosures by Windlab, after obtaining state development approval in May 2025, Wongalee entered the detailed design and delivery planning stage, while federal EPBC approval was still underway at that time. With the federal approval now secured, the project's main government approval chain has been completed, and the next stage will continue to focus on detailed design, financing, and subsequent construction preparation.