Of the 23 solar and wind projects in Australia that have achieved financial close this year, more than half are located in the state of Queensland, according to Sustainable Energy Research Analytics (SERA).

The financed projects account for more than 1.9GW capacity, with 1.1GW in solar and 800MW of wind. There are now 4GW of projects under construction or that have achieved financing, but a huge 31GW of projects waiting to obtain financing.

SERA noted: “Competition is high in the race to secure financing and grid access, with 43 new assets added to the development pipeline in the last two months.”

Queensland is also making waves in the smaller scale segments having expanded the feed-in tariff (FiT) for rooftop solar in regional areas earlier this month.

In related news, Queensland has overtaken New South Wales in creating jobs in the renewable energy industry for the first time, with the monthly Renewable Energy Index calculating that there are almost 6,500 Queenslanders working in the renewable energy sector. A total of 1,287 jobs were created ifor nstalling rooftop solar systems last month in the state.

“This is a win-win-win situation for Queensland – the solar boom is creating jobs, cutting power bills and reducing climate pollution,” said Solar Citizens Queensland campaign manager Louise Matthiesson. “Right now there are 20 large-scale renewable energy projects under construction in the Sunshine State. Those projects are spread throughout regional Queensland, from Normanton to Dalby and they are creating enough jobs to employ 5,203 people full time for a year. Families and businesses are also joining the solar boom, with 4000 rooftop solar systems installed in Queensland during August."