The winds of change are blowing in Australia's north as the country's first large-scale hybrid solar and wind plant is expected to begin construction in 12-months following the removal of former Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
Australian renewable energy company Windlab announced to local media on Monday a 140 million Australian dollar (101.62 million U.S. dollar) joint venture with Japanese wind and solar operator and builder Eurus Energy to begin construction of the reported 2 billion-plus Australian dollar (1.45 billion-plus U.S. dollar) Kennedy Energy Park despite fears it would be shelved earlier in the year.
Australia's renewable energy sector had been starving for investment following Abbott's hostile anti-wind farm decree that blocked the 10 billion Australian dollar clean energy finance corporation from providing early-stage finance to wind farms.
Abbott had been a vocal critic of the described "ugly" and "noisy" wind farms while campaigning for coal-fired power, putting him at odds with other developed nations such as China and the U.S. as they implement an overhaul of their energy industries to meet ambitious environmental targets.
Current Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull toppled Abbott in September's party room coup, welcomed by the renewable energy sector as a breath of fresh air.
In 2014, Australia invested just 240 million Australian dollars of 310 billion Australian dollars of global investment into renewable energy projects and facilities.
The park, which will supply 80 percent of local energy supply in northern Queensland, will build six massive 136 meter diameter turbines in the project's first stage, then will combine with 64,000 solar panels spread across 80 hectares to generate 1,200 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 25,000 homes. Xinhua
