Telstra’s latest renewables deal is with Ark Energy and its wind farm in South East Queensland, marking more than $1 billion in clean energy investments from the Australian telco giant.
Previously, Telstra has signed agreements with the Emerald Solar Park in Queensland, the Murra Murra wind farm in Victoria and the Crookwell wind farm in New South Wales and became carbon neutral in 2020. This new deal, with Ark Energy’s MacIntyre wind farm, keeps Telstra on track to achieve its renewable energy goals over the coming years. The MacIntyre wind precinct, which began construction in June, is set to be Australia’s largest wind farm.
“When these projects are fully operational, our share of their renewable energy output will be more than two-thirds of our consumption, a long way toward our target of 100 per cent by 2025,” Telstra’s product and technology group executive Kim Krogh Andersen said.
“Agreements like this one also help insulate Telstra from fluctuating wholesale electricity prices. Our annual power bill is equivalent to 300,000 household power bills, so signing long-term renewable energy agreements helps us to manage our costs.”
These deals contribute to the renewable energy use of the entire Telstra company, paying for energy that comes directly from solar and wind farms across Australia instead of simply paying for energy from wide-scale suppliers reliant on fossil fuel-powered generators.
It’s also another aspect that makes Telstra’s home energy plans more attractive. From the start, those energy plans are at least partially sourced from renewable energy generators and users can track how much of their plan is sourced from renewable energy through the My Telstra app.
“Australia has a clear opportunity to be a global renewable energy and carbon market superpower. Now is the moment to seize these opportunities and Telstra is excited to be a part of this change,” added Andersen.
The telco plans to generate the equivalent of its entire business in renewable energy by 2025.
Beyond the agreement with Ark Energy, Telstra is planning to be net zero on greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
The MacIntyre wind farm is expected to be fully operational in 2024.