Australia Approves Twelve Offshore Wind Projects, Set to Generate 25 GW Capacity

NOTE: The article was updated on 17 July with more information about the offshore wind project proposed by Corio Generation. 

A total of twelve offshore wind projects have now been granted feasibility licenses for the Gippsland Offshore Wind Zone, enabling a potential generation capacity of 25 GW, according to Chris Bowen, Australia’s Minister for Climate Change and Energy.

In May, the Australian government granted the initial licences to six offshore wind projects, with a combined capacity of approximately 12 GW.

Now, twelve projects have been granted feasibility licences for the Gippsland Offshore Wind Zone, enough to generate 25 GW, more electricity than the entire state of Victoria generated last year, said Minister Bowen in a social media post.

RWE has been granted a feasibility licence from the Australian government for developing the Kent Offshore Wind Farm project in the Bass Strait, off the Gippsland coast.

The licence approval grants RWE an exclusive 7-year seabed right to develop the project and also allows the company to apply for a commercial licence to build and operate the wind farm for up to 40 years.

The lease area has the potential to host a wind farm with up to 2 GW of capacity, enough to power up to 1.6 million Australian homes with renewable energy.

The site is about 67 kilometres off the coast and has an average water depth of 59 metres. The wind farm is expected to become operational in the first half of the 2030s, subject to the timing of the planning and approvals process, secured offtake, and grid connection.

“RWE has been active in the country for 10 years and operates one of Australia’s largest solar farms. By securing exclusive seabed rights in the Bass Strait off Gippsland, we are now entering the Australian offshore wind market and will bring our more than 20 years of experience in this field,” said Sven Utermöhlen, CEO of RWE Offshore Wind.

BlueFloat Energy’s proposed Gippsland Dawn Offshore Wind Project has also been granted a feasibility licence.

Gippsland Dawn is proposed to be located between Paradise Beach and Ocean Grange and can generate up to 2.1 GW of electricity, enough to power more than one million homes.

BlueFloat said the project will create 2,000 jobs during construction, which could begin in 2029, and 200-300 ongoing jobs during operations and maintenance stages.

Capital investment of about AUD 10 billion is proposed and the project could be operational by 2031, said the company.

“The feasibility licence will enable investigation work, including offshore metocean, geophysical and geotechnical investigations. Detailed technical studies and surveys will be completed. Gippsland Dawn will continue to seek feedback and engage closely with stakeholders and the community during every step of the project’s development,” said Darragh White, Gippsland Dawn’s Project Director.

Navigator North is a joint venture between Australia’s Origin Energy and the renewable energy company RES.

The project is approximately 34 kilometres from shore and covers and area of 700 square kilometres. Navigator North has the potential to deliver 1.5 GW of installed capacity, create an estimated 1,400 new jobs during the design and construction phase, and a further 60 jobs over the project’s 30-year operational life, said Origin.

“Together, we will look to develop a competitive wind project that we believe could provide material renewable supply to the energy market. We will place local communities and workforces at the heart of any potential Navigator North development and future operations,” said Greg Jarvis, Origin’s head of energy supply and operations.

The 2.5 GW Great Eastern Offshore Wind project is located approximately 22 kilometres off the central Gippsland coast to the east of Wilsons Promontory.

The fixed-bottom wind farm has recently achieved a milestone by completing 17 months of a 24-month marine environmental baseline survey programme to inform the project development, said Corio.

Great Eastern is expected to be operational in 2032 to meet Victorian state targets and the project will then be operational for 30-plus years, according to its developer.

Other projects that reached this stage are being developed by Iberdrola Australia OW 2 (Aurora Green), and Ørsted Offshore Australia 1 (the Gippsland 02 project).

The government opened a window for applications for feasibility licences within the Gippsland area on 23 January 2023. The application period closed in April last year with 37 feasibility licence applications received, after which the government began the review process.

For the remaining 25 applications, a preliminary decision was made to not proceed to grant a feasibility licence on the basis that they are not as meritorious as overlapping applications, Australia’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) said in December 2023.

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