Mulgoa Road Upgrade Alliance

  • Snapshot

The Boomer Green Energy Hub (BGEH) is a large-scale renewable energy project located in Central Queensland, involving the construction and operation of a wind farm with battery energy storage and associated transmission and civil infrastructure. At an estimated capital investment of approximately $3 billion, BGEH is one of the most significant renewable energy projects in Queensland’s development pipeline.

Turnbull Engineering was engaged by Ark Energy as the lead civil and structural designer to deliver the 30% reference design, building on the team’s relationship and experience from the Richmond Valley Solar Farm.

  • Location
    Central Queensland

  • Client
    Ark Energy Corporation Pty Ltd

  • Project type
    Large-scale wind farm with battery energy storage and associated infrastructure

  • Turnbull’s role
    Lead civil & structural reference designer for the 30% reference design

  • Estimated capex
    ~$3 billion

  • Timeline
    2025

  • Status
    Reference design delivered; project in development

Project Overview

The project’s infrastructure includes wind turbine generators, 33 kV underground reticulation, substations, a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), an operations and maintenance (O&M) facility, transmission infrastructure, and approximately 150 kilometres of access roads across a large site in challenging terrain.

The design was structured across four Design Packages: Public Road Upgrades (DP1), Permanent Facilities (DP2), Wind Turbines, Temporary Facilities, Access Tracks and Hardstands (DP3), and Transmission Infrastructure (DP4), enabling staged delivery and efficient interface management between civil, structural, and electrical disciplines.

 
 

  • Scope

Services

Turnbull Engineering delivered the full civil and structural design scope for the 30% reference design, spanning site access, enabling infrastructure, and specialist assessments across the project’s four design packages.

 

  • Access roads and tracks

  • Earthworks

  • Pavements

  • Drainage

  • Fencing, gates, and cattle grids

  • Foundations (substation, BESS, and O&M facility)

  • Wind turbine foundations

  • Transmission line structures and access tracks

  • Flooding assessment

  • Mass haul analysis

  • Erosion and sediment controls

Project Highlights

  • Continuity from Richmond Valley Solar Farm

    Key team members from RVSF were retained for BGEH, bringing direct client knowledge and project experience into a significantly larger and more complex wind farm design scope, maintaining a productive relationship with Ark Energy and avoiding the learning curve of a new team.

  • Designing in challenging terrain

    Drawing on experience from Hills of Gold Wind Farm, Turnbull optimised road alignments using geological mapping to reduce earthworks and minimise site footprint across steep terrain. Rather than producing extensive cross-section drawing sets, Turnbull provided colour-graded road gradient outputs and depth-from-surface point files that allowed Ark Energy to interrogate the design directly.

  • 3D federated model for real-time design coordination

    Turnbull delivered a federated 3D model coordinating access roads, substations, wind turbine locations, BESS, and O&M facilities, exported fortnightly via a web browser. This gave Ark Energy continuous visibility of the evolving design and allowed coordination issues to be identified and resolved early.

  • Improving client satisfaction across engagements

    Ark Energy’s client satisfaction surveys showed improving performance scores from the RVSF concept design (April 2024) through to the RVSF 30% reference design (January 2025), reflecting Turnbull’s commitment to incorporating feedback and continuously improving delivery on this client relationship.

  • One of Queensland’s largest renewable energy projects

    At an estimated $3 billion capex, BGEH is among the largest wind energy projects in Queensland’s development pipeline. Turnbull’s scope spans the full project footprint, from public road upgrades through to transmission tower foundations, delivered across a 109-day reference design program.

By the numbers

~150 km

access roads and hardstands

~186 km²

catchment modelled

~14 km

275 kV transmission line

~$3B

estimated capex

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