The Australian government will soon launch consultations for two more proposed offshore wind zones, namely the Bass Strait region off Northern Tasmania and the Indian Ocean region off Perth/Bunbury. The government, which has earlier identified six zones, is carrying out consultations as part of the process to officially declare each identified area an offshore wind development zone.
This was announced today (30 August) at GWEC’s APAC Summit by Australia’s Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, who said that this puts the country “firmly on track to have all six areas declared by the first half of next year”.
Consultations for the Bass Strait zone will begin in October and for the Indian Ocean zone in November, coming shortly after the Pacific Ocean area off Illawarra in New South Wales has opened for public consultation to seek feedback on declaring it an offshore wind development zone.
Prior to that, consultations were opened for two more regions, the Hunter and the Southern Ocean, with the first offshore wind zone to be officially declared being the Bass Strait off Victoria’s Gippsland region , which obtained the status last year.
The Hunter region has now also progressed as the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) opened the application period for feasibility licences in the zone at the beginning of this month.
“The pace of Australia’s development in the last year has been fantastic” , said Ben Backwell , GWEC, CEO, at the APAC Summit. “Minister Bowen described Australia as being like ‘the kid studying all night to catch up,’ when it came to renewable energy, but I think we can safely say the government’s work over the last twelve months now makes it a model for other countries looking to build their offshore wind sector”.