Leading-practice responsible development
Gawara Baya has been designed to preserve almost 99% of potential habitat across its host cattle property for the life of the project.
More than that, Gawara Baya will be the first renewable energy project in Australia to be delivered with a robust, measurable program for achieving biodiversity net-gain.
This is part of our long-term, beyond compliance commitment to doing more for nature. Our approach is informed by more than 8,000 hours of detailed ecology studies and four years’ in-depth stakeholder consultation, collaboration and codesign.
In Australia, Australia’s energy generation sector is by far our nation’s biggest source of greenhouse gases emissions. Decarbonising our energy system is the clear action we must take to address the compounding effects of climate change, including biodiversity decline.
Gawara Baya will generate enough clean energy to power up to 250,000 Australian homes, eliminating more than 1.3 million tonnes of carbon emissions from the energy market every year.
At the same time, Windlab has committed to leading practice ecological restoration and threat abatement programs that not only address the local scale impacts of the project, but support overall better outcomes for regional biodiversity at a landscape scale.
400MW
wind energy project
<0.3%
total area of host property occupied by project
>1.3 million tonnes CO2 eliminated
from Queensland’s energy generation profile every year
Regulatory approvals
The comprehensive regulatory review process for wind farms in Queensland requires distinct approvals from Local, State and Federal Government authorities.
Gawara Baya received Development Approval under the Queensland Government’s State Planning Framework in August 2023 and Federal Approval under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act in June 2024.
Ecological assessment requirements for the Queensland Government's State Assessment and Referral Agency are prescribed in State code 23: Wind farm development. The Commonwealth legislative framework protects and manages nationally and internationally significant flora, fauna, ecological communities, and heritage places.
Balanced coexistence
North Queensland’s renewable energy resources are strategically critical for Australia’s clean energy transition. The region is also home to diverse range of traditional industries like mining and agriculture, and large tracts of land high in ecological value.
Gawara Baya is located on a long-established cattle grazing property with existing disturbed and degraded areas and access tracks which we have used in the project design to minimise impact. There are also pockets of sensitive habitat across the property, and the project layout has been revised over many years to avoid these areas wherever possible.
Gawara Baya demonstrates how renewable energy projects can progress the twin objectives of addressing climate change and biodiversity decline in synergy. We are targeting net-positive biodiversity outcomes that respond specifically to the local scale impacts of the project.
These include:
- Maintaining species populations present in the project area.
- Achieving a demonstrated reduction in weeds and predatory pests that pose a major threat to native species and habitat both in the project area and across offsets.
- Implementing protective fire management programs in collaboration with Traditional Owners and environmental experts that deliver a regional ecological benefit.
- Contributing to an increase in the ecological knowledge of key species to support sanctioned species recovery and broad preservation programs, including as a Tier 1 Monitoring site for the CSIRO’s National Koala Monitoring Program.
- Delivering leading-practice offsets in collaboration with regional conservation experts to improve the quality of habitat in the region.
Responsive design informed by robust science and regional insights
As a direct result of the project’s extensive consultation and environmental study work spanning more than two years, Windlab has reduced the project by almost half, to be no more than 69-turbines, down from the original 136-turbine concept design. This was a proactive decision, made to:
- Avoid discrete habitats present across the cattle property on which the project will be located.
- Minimise habitat fragmentation.
- Reduce cumulative impacts association with other renewable energy projects proposed for the region.
- Reduce the overall footprint of the project.
- Minimise the visual impact to the community of Mount Fox and from the Mount Fox summit, in line with community feedback.
Decommissioning and end-of-life rehabilitation
Gawara Baya has a detailed end-of-life decommissioning and rehabilitation plan as a condition of the project’s approvals.
All built assets – from wind turbines and solar panels, to highways, rail lines and bridges – have a finite operating life. Gawara Baya has an initial operating life of 30 years.
As part of our leading-practice approach to development, Windlab builds decommissioning planning and financing into lease agreements with host landholders from the outset. During a project’s operational phase, Windlab pays funds into a trust to cover future decommissioning costs, providing landholders and communities peace of mind.
When Gawara Baya reaches the end of its life, all above ground project infrastructure will be dismantled and removed from the site. Gawara Baya’s operating footprint, including tracks, hardstands or laydown areas will be fully rehabilitated and restored to native ecosystems.
Many of the components used in renewable energy projects remain valuable even after the project itself reaches the end of its life. Equipment and assets in good repair can be transferred to other projects, on-sold, or donated to support regional community organisations. Steel and other metals used in turbine towers, transmission structures and overhead cabling can be onsold for recycling. Advances in technology currently underway will offer new and innovative solutions for recovering valuable resources from carbon-fibre turbine blades and other materials.
As Gawara Baya nears the end of its nameplate term, options like upgrading and repowering turbines could extend the valuable operating life of Gawara Baya by many years.
