Australia, a global champion of oil and gas, has awarded the first feasibility licences for developing the nation’s debut offshore wind projects.
Six projects have been authorised to begin detailed assessment work to determine feasibility, including environmental studies and management plans.
The initial six projects are High Sea Wind, Gippsland Skies, Blue Mackerel North, Kut-Wut Brataualung, Orsted Offshore Australia (Gippsland 01) and Star of the South Wind Farm.
A further six proposals are set to be awarded similar licences subject to consultation with Indigenous communities, Australia’s minister for climate change and energy Chris Bowen said.
These comprise Iberdrola Australia OW 2, Greater Gippsland 2 OWP Project, Navigator North Project, Orsted Offshore Australia (Gippsland 02), Kent Offshore Wind and Great Eastern Offshore Wind Farm Project Co.
If feasibility is proven, developers can then apply for a commercial licence to build an offshore wind project to generate electricity commercially.
The 12 potential projects, all located in waters off the Gippsland region in the state of Victoria, together would have a capacity of 25 gigawatts.
“Granting feasibility licences is the next step to helping deliver a new clean energy industry for Australia, as well as future-proof energy security and reliability for Victoria,” said Bowen.
“Offshore wind represents a huge opportunity for regional Australia, providing reliable renewables to power homes and heavy industry while creating thousands of highly skilled and well-paid jobs.”
Australia has embraced cheap solar power and onshore wind, but higher costs and a lack of policy support have stalled the development of offshore turbines.
Even so, about 70 gigawatts of projects have been proposed, around triple the nation’s existing utility-scale renewables capacity, according to reports by Bloomberg.
The feasibility licence application process for the Gippsland offshore wind area launched last December was described as “highly competitive”, with 37 applications received for feasibility licences for the 15,000 sq km zone.
Gippsland was the first Australian offshore wind energy area to be declared and is the first area to have feasibility licences granted.
Five other offshore wind areas that are under development are the Pacific Ocean regions off the Hunter and Illawarra in New South Wales, the Southern Ocean region off Victoria and South Australia, the Bass Strait region off Northern Tasmania, and the Indian Ocean region off Perth/Bunbury in Western Australia.
