Generation

Most electricity generation in Queensland is carried out by coal-fired power stations, located mainly in central and southern parts of the State. The number of gas-fired power stations is increasing and renewable energy, such as hydro, wind and biomass is also being used to generate electricity in Queensland.

Government Owned Corporations (GOC) own many of the larger power stations, but the numbers of partially or fully privately owned power stations are increasing. View a list of Queensland's main power stations.

Queensland currently has a generation capacity of more than 10,000 megawatts (MW). Since 1998, $4.7 billion or 75 percent of new generation investment in the National Electricity Market has occurred in Queensland. Additionally, by 2015 approximately $12 billion more will be invested in more than 10,000 megawatts (MW) of new generation capacity across the National Electricity Market. Given the high quality and low cost of Queensland fuel sources, and their proximity to load growth, a significant proportion of this investment is expected to occur in this state.

Fueling Queensland's electricity supply

Queensland's current electricity supply is predominantly fuelled by high-quality, low-priced black coal which accounted for approximately 88 percent of Queensland's electricity generation in 2007-08. However, the Queensland Government has begun to diversify the State's energy mix towards a greater use of renewables and gas. Electricity generated from renewable sources accounted for approximately 2 per cent of Queensland's electricity generation in 2007-08. Gas-fired generation accounted for a further 10 per cent.

Renewables

Queensland has a diverse range of renewable energy projects including the 12 megawatt (MW) Windy Hill (wind) project in north Queensland and 30 MW Invicta Sugar Mill (bagasse) cogeneration plant in North Queensland and the hydro-electric facilities Barron Goroge (60 MW) and Kareeya (84 MW) also in North Queensland.

Gas-fired generation

Under the Queensland Gas Scheme, which took effect on 1 January 2005, electricity retailers and other large electricity users in Queensland must source at least 13 percent of their electricity from gas-fired generation. According to the National Electricity Market (NEM), Queensland's installed gas-fired power generation capacity is over 2000 megawatts. The Queensland Gas Scheme has resulted in increased private investment for gas-fired generation particularly in south-west Queensland. In the next three years, approximately 2000 megawatts of additional gas-fired generation is scheduled to be built. 

Building on the success of this scheme, the target will be increased to 15 per cent in 2010, with the option to increase the target to 18 per cent by 2020. The Queensland Gas Scheme will be transitioned into the Federal Government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme as soon as practicable.

Efficient coal

Queensland's electricity generators also lead Australia in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power stations by adopting the more efficient supercritical boiler technology. These operational plants include Callide-C (840MW), Millmerran (840MW) and Tarong North (450MW). Kogan Creek Power Station (750MW), commissioned in 2007, and the Millmerran Power Station both employ air-cooled technology to reduce water usage by up to 90 percent compared with conventional technologies.

Conditions for new coal-fired electricity generation

Under the Queensland Government's revised climate change strategy, ClimateQ: toward a greener Queensland, the government has revised the conditions for new coal-fired electricity generation.

No new coal-fired power station will be approved in Queensland unless:

• it uses world's best practice low emission technology in order to achieve the lowest possible levels of emissions
• it is carbon capture and storage (CCS) ready and will retrofit that technology within five years of CCS being proven on a commercial scale.

This initiative complements and extends the significant investment that the Queensland Government has made in accelerating the development and commercial deployment of low emission coal technology. For more information, download the Conditions for new coal-fired electricity generation fact sheet (PDF - 121KB).