The Australian Financial Review last week reported contractors and subcontractors had been told to stop work and “demobilise” from the site, including removing equipment.
But Mr Willoughby said the stopwork was temporary and existing contractors were likely to return to the site, which is 150 kilometres north-west of Rockhampton and 150 kilometres south of Mackay,
“As part of the handover to Squadron Energy, we are briefly pausing work and doing a full project management review before on-site activity increases when component deliveries begin,” he said.
“All agreements with contractors remain in place and will continue. We understand the impact pausing work can have and we will keep contractors updated on when they can get back on-site.”
It is understood the delay to the project will have a financial impact on Squadron, but is not expected to affect project delivery time frames, with first power due to be exported to the grid in 2025.
Mr Willoughby said the project management review would examine all aspects of best practice delivery including biodiversity, safety and cultural heritage plans.
The Financial Review has been told there have been two shutdowns of the project – one for several weeks – over safety concerns since construction started in July last year.
Andrew Forrest has said the Clarke Creek wind farm would be part of the nine-fold increase needed in wind and solar projects to reach net zero by 2050. Edwina Pickles
One source with knowledge of the site said safety incidents included a traffic control vehicle going off a road and a small crane rolling and nearly hitting a worker.
While the level of incidents seemed high enough to attract management attention, the site did not seem inherently unsafe, the source said.
Squadron did not deny the incidents or shutdowns had occurred.
The call for at least some contractors to demobilise confused industry sources, given the project manager was changing between companies either fully owned or 75 per cent owned by Mr Forrest’s interests.
They believed a far smoother, uninterrupted contractual handover would typically occur in any friendly changes of project manager.
Clarke Creek is touted as the largest renewables project in the Southern Hemisphere. Construction started last year, with stage one to have a total capacity of 450 megawatts and include 100 turbines.
Dr Forrest has said it will be a critical part of the nine-fold increase in wind and solar capacity needed to help Australia reach net zero emissions by 2050.
It aims to start exporting electricity by 2025, with a 15-year power purchase agreement to supply 346.5MW to state-owned energy company Stanwell Corporation.
The project is being built on the land of the Barada Kabalbara Yetimarala people, with 76,300 hectares across eight private landholdings.
A spokeswoman for Queensland Energy Minister Mick De Brenni said the government was not concerned about any potential delays to the project.
“We’re advised the standard operational procedure relating to handover protocols will not result in significant delays,” the spokeswoman said.