Some rural councils are celebrating a renewable energy boom in Queensland.

Regional Queensland is replete with coal seam gas wells, but an unexpected downturn in that commodity has put hundreds of jobs at risk.

In the Darling Downs, one council has approved $6 billion worth of renewable projects.

“We've got $1.2 billion of that under construction now, and that's the exciting thing, this isn't just about approvals, this is about action to deliver renewable energies to this region,” said Western Downs Regional Council mayor Paul McVeigh.

“And we know there are another three [solar farms] in the pipeline.”

The first big project for the area — the $200 million Dalby Solar Farm, owned by Australian energy infrastructure company APA — is nearly complete.

When it is finished, the workforce will move onto a bigger, 800,000-panel APA project.

“We're looking at the Beelbee solar farm which is just nearby, and if we get all the approvals we want for that and proceed, that will be around $200 to 300 million as well,” APA's Sam Pierce told reporters.

Meanwhile, Toowoomba Council has approved a billion-dollar project at Bulli Creek, and has seen the first sod turned on a 264-megawatt project owned by Chinese solar company Risen Energy.

The Southern Downs Regional Council has approved a solar farm proposal on agricultural land on the edge of Warwick, but faces some community opposition.

Queensland's energy minister Dr Anthony Lyneham applauded the local governments’ planning decisions.

“Absolutely they are the voice of the local community, and we are seeing local government in north Queensland saying; ‘No this is wrong we do not want a solar farm there’, and I totally respect it,” he said.

“[Meanwhile] we see other local governments in southern areas of Queensland say; ‘No we want a solar farm there despite the objections of the community’, that is a matter for them.

“People have a lot of power when it comes to local government complaints through to the planning and environment court … but also ultimately there is the ballot box.”

Toowoomba Mayor Paul Antonio said it is stunning how quickly these large-scale projects can be built, and how much economic activity renewable energy can bring.

“If you had asked me about this amazing stuff which is happening in power generation [a decade ago] I would have said it was impossible, but it's all possible,” he said.