The project, which has estimated it would employ about 440 people and build 226 wind turbines in a pine forest near Maryborough, said it would not start construction for another 15 months.

Previously, it was considering a start of the 1200 megawatt development by the end of 2021.

“The anticipated construction start date has shifted and we now anticipate construction not to commence for at least another 15 months,’’ the project, owned by CleanSight and Siemens Financial Services said.

It is yet to provide a reason for the delay.

The project has already received strong backing from the State Government which even passed legislation paving the way for the project development.

In a notice to stakeholders, Forest Wind said it was preparing the Request for Information (RFI) report which will be submitted to the Federal Department of Environment, after which the department will advise on the public notification period as required under the EPBC Act. Once this public notice period is known, we will notify the community.

Forest Wind said it was now investigating transport routes for delivery of major components such as blades, towers and nacelles to the project site. 

“This has involved an extensive logistics study to assess road and port entries and the most efficient way to deliver the components to where they are needed with the least impacts. Once the transport routes have been further refined, we will share these plans and consult with the local community,’’ it said.

“Our wind engineers have been busy collecting wind and climate data from the project site. 

“This extensive data is being used by the whole team which includes our own wind engineers, the turbine manufacturer team and an independent third party wind expert team, in an ongoing complex process of optimisation in order to determine the precise locations of the wind turbines within Forest Wind’s Development Permit conditions.”