5 GW Offshore Wind Zone Declared off Hunter Coast | Offshore Wind - Offshore WIND
5 GW Offshore Wind Zone Declared off Hunter Coast | Offshore Wind
5 GW Offshore Wind Zone Declared off Hunter Coast
The Albanese Government has officially declared Australia’s second offshore wind zone in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the New South Wales (NSW) Hunter region which has the potential to accommodate up to 5 GW of offshore wind capacity.
The declared area stretches over 1,800 square kilometres between Swansea and Port Stephens and could generate up to 5 GW of offshore wind energy, enough to power an estimated 4.2 million homes.
The revised zone will be 20 kilometres from the coast in the north and over 35 kilometres from the coast in the south.
The offshore infrastructure will also be limited to a height of 260 metres to address aviation safety, the country’s Ministry of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, said.
The final area was declared after two months of public consultation with a smaller footprint than the originally proposed zone, balancing the views of the local community, local industry, and sea users.
“The Albanese Labor Government has listened to community feedback and revised the offshore wind zone accordingly to ensure it coexists alongside whale migration, bird and sea life, and our shipping industry. This is an important part of a suite of measures which will position Newcastle and the Hunter as a clean energy hub, including an $100 million investment to ensure hydrogen readiness at the Port of Newcastle. Newcastle has a bright future”, said Sharon Claydon MP, Federal Member for Newcastle.
The ministry said that the area’s strong, consistent winds off the coast, along with the region’s skilled energy and manufacturing workforce, make the Hunter an ideal location for an offshore wind industry.
“The Hunter is undergoing significant economic change, and the prospect of creating new job opportunities for decades to come through a new offshore wind industry is a game changer. Today’s declaration opens the door for a new industry in the Hunter, which could create over 3,000 construction jobs and another 1,560 ongoing jobs”, said Australia’s Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen.
Feasibility licence applications for offshore wind projects in the Hunter region will open from 8 August until 14 November 2023.
During the feasibility licence stage, developers will be required to undertake further consultation on individual proposals, including detailed environmental assessments and impacts on other marine users, the ministry said.
Construction can only begin after feasibility stage is completed, and environmental and management plan approvals are gained, according to the press release.
Among the developers that have already announced their bids for a place in the new Hunter region are Energy Estate, which proposed up to 1.65 GW Hunter Coast floating offshore wind farm, the 2 GW project being developed by Equinor and OceanEx, and the biggest floating offshore wind project proposed by EDF Renewables.
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The first offshore wind zone to be declared was off Victoria’s Gippsland region, with four other areas expected to follow.
Recently the Australian federal government launched the consultation for the Southern Ocean zone which has the potential to accommodate up to 14 GW of offshore wind capacity.
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Related Knowledge Center: Offshore wind energy
Over the next decade, U.S. offshore wind power is expected to grow from a single 30-megawatt wind farm off Rhode Island to more than 2,000 MW of capacity along the Atlantic Seaboard. There are contracts for wind power off the coasts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated the United States has over 4,000 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind potential, enough to power the country four times over.
The growth in part being spurred by state solicitations, including in New York, where then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) set a commitment of 9,000 MW of offshore wind by 2035, and in Connecticut, where in June 2021, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed legislation authorizing the construction of 2,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030.
The offshore development is also being driven by an investment tax credit set to end in December 2019 and is equal to 12 percent of expenditures. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) have introduced a bill to extend the tax credit for up to eight years.
The Interior Department has held eight competitive lease sales that resulted in 15 offshore wind leases over 1.7 million acres that has the potential for 21 GW of capacity. In February 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management completed a bidding process that realized $4.37 billion for 488,000 acres across six lease areas in federal waters off New York and New Jersey.
Projects have also been proposed off the Southeast coast, off California and Hawaii, and for the Great Lakes.