CS Energy has entered a 10 year-agreement to purchase its electricity output and a proportion of the large-scale generation certificates from the planned Kennedy Energy Park near Hughenden.

The $150 million Kennedy Energy Park is a wind, solar and storage hybrid project expected to provide enough electricity to power more than 30,000 homes.

Kennedy Energy Park director Rob Fisher said the agreement with CS Energy meant the project could begin construction later this year and be generating in 2018.

“The project will prove up many key concepts and technologies necessary for the ongoing rollout of high penetration renewable energy around the world,” he said.

The project will comprise a 15MW solar photovoltaic plant, 43.5 MW wind plant and 2MW/4MWh of battery storage and is being developed by Windlab and Eurus Energy Holdings.

The Kennedy Energy Park is a catalyst project for the much larger Kennedy Wind Farm, which will form a key part of the Clean Energy Hub under the Powering North Queensland Plan.

CS Energy chief executive officer Martin Moore said the agreement with Kennedy Energy Park was part of CS Energy’s strategy to facilitate renewable energy development in Queensland while continuing to provide reliable baseload electricity through its existing portfolio of power stations.

“CS Energy is looking to the future and making strategic investments that will provide a sustainable future for the company and support Queensland’s transition to a clean energy future,” Mr Moore said.

Energy, Biofuels and Water Supply Minister Mark Bailey said there were 20 financially committed large-scale renewable projects in the pipeline statewide as at the start of September.

These were worth $3.4 billion, had a combined generating capacity of 1781 MW and would support 2773 construction jobs, he said.