NSW deep dive › South West REZ › Conargo Wind Farm

Conargo Wind Farm

Squadron Energy

windscopingConfidence: High

Capacity and technology

Technology

wind

Capacity (MW)

168 MW

Storage

unknown

Estimated capex, local spend and peak workforce

Total development cost

~$588M benchmark estimate

168 MW × $3.5M/MW (wind, NSW 2025-26 escalated)

Industry benchmark only — not project-specific. Sources: Clean Energy Council, BloombergNEF 2024 Australian utility-scale LCOE inputs, AEMO ISP 2024 cost assumptions. Actual capex varies materially by site, OEM, supply chain and grid-connection works.

Estimated local / regional spend

~$129M benchmark estimate

22% of capex — Clean Energy Council benchmark for renewable energy construction in regional Australia. Actual local content varies by project siting, procurement strategy and any access-scheme local-content conditions.

Estimated peak construction workforce

~118 roles benchmark estimate

Industry benchmark: ~0.7 FTE/MW wind, 0.5 FTE/MW solar, 0.4 FTE/MWh BESS, 1.5 FTE/MW pumped hydro. Peak during civil/electrical phase only — operations workforce is typically ~5-10% of construction peak.

Workforce breakdown — sector mix and phasing

Sector mix and phase distribution for the estimated construction workforce. Basis: industry norm (Clean Energy Council, ARENA, AEMO ISP 2024 + comparable EIS Social Impact Assessments). Numbers are decision-support indicators, not a project-specific forecast.

By service sector / industry (peak year)

Civil / earthworks

~35 FTE

Electrical trades

~21 FTE

Mechanical / structural

~26 FTE

Plant operators

~14 FTE

PM / engineering / env

~12 FTE

Logistics / admin

~9 FTE

By phase (across construction window)

Phase	FTE	What's happening
Mobilisation + civils (year 1)	~71	Site prep, access roads, foundations, early electrical. Civil trades dominant.
Peak construction (year 2)	~118	All trades concurrent. Turbine / panel delivery, electrical install, commissioning prep.
Commissioning / demob (year 3)	~83	Specialist electrical and testing. Civil and structural ramping down.
Operations (ongoing)	~8	Permanent O&M workforce — typically 5–10% of construction peak. Plus periodic major-maintenance windows.

Sector mix from CEC, ARENA and AEMO ISP workforce profiles for utility-scale Australian builds. Phase distribution from comparable EIS Social Impact Assessments. Indicative only — actual workforce varies with OEM, contractor strategy, weather and OSOM scheduling.

Approvals and access rights

Project status

scoping

Planning status

Scoping report submitted to DPHI

Access right status

not awarded SW REZ access scheme — candidate for future expansion round

EPBC status

verify

Grid connection

in SW REZ geographic area; not in current access scheme cohort

Financial close

pre-FID

Construction start

unknown

Operations start

unknown

Location

LGA

Edward River / Murrumbidgee

Region

Riverina NSW

REZ

South West REZ

REZ relationship

inside declared REZ

Coordinates

-35.27, 145.25 (approximate)

Project documents — EIS, SEARs, proponent pages

Direct links to public documents and pages for this project. Phase 2 ingestion will pull updates automatically; Sprint 0 entries are verified manually with a confidence score per record.

planning portal pageConfidence: Very high
Conargo Wind Farm — NSW Planning Portal
https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/major-projects/projects/conargo-wind-farm ↗
Scoping report on public file.
proponent pageConfidence: Very high
Conargo Wind Farm — Squadron Energy
https://squadronenergy.com/our-projects/conargo-wind-farm/ ↗
168 MW; 28 turbines + BESS; ~45 km NE of Deniliquin.
otherConfidence: Very highPublished: 2025-08-14
Conargo Wind Farm — Stakeholder Engagement Plan (14 Aug 2025)
https://squadronenergy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/CONW-01-PLN-External-Stakeholder-Plan-20250814-000.pdf ↗
External stakeholder engagement plan.

Notes

SW REZ candidate project. Did not receive access right in 2024 SW REZ tender round (only 3.56 GW awarded against 15+ GW of bids). Currently progressing through scoping. Geographically inside the declared SW REZ — would be a future candidate if SW REZ access scheme capacity is expanded.

Source confidence: 80/100
Last verified: 2026-05-18
Every material fact on this page is sourced. A "View source" link is provided per source below.

Source evidence

Confidence: High

primaryNSW Planning Portal — Major Projects
View source ↗
Authoritative for NSW SSD and SSI planning status. Hosts each project's Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), SEARs, response to submissions, and other planning documents. Outranks proponent and media reports for planning_status. Per-project EIS and SSD page URLs are tracked under each project's project_documents.
secondaryProponent project websites
View source ↗
Proponent-supplied content from each project's dedicated page on the proponent's website. Useful for technology, capacity intent, community engagement messaging, project newsletters, fact sheets and timeline updates. Cannot override official planning_status or epbc_status. Per-project page URLs are tracked under each project's project_documents.

Open questions

Planning status against the NSW Planning Portal — verify SSD reference.
EPBC referral status — verify against DCCEEW public notices.
Storage MWh and voltage figures — confirm from proponent documents and AEMO Generation Information.
Workforce and accommodation commitments — confirm in SSD documentation or VPA.
First Nations engagement reporting — confirm in IEP / cultural heritage chapter.

See this project in context

REZ workspace

South West REZ

All projects, pressure bands and shared-value commitments for this REZ

LGA detail

Edward River

6 projects · everything affecting this council area

LGA detail

Murrumbidgee

8 projects · everything affecting this council area

Workforce + supply ratio

Demand vs ABS baseline