Australia rejects port plan in ‘massive setback’ for nascent offshore wind sector
Australia rejects port plan in ‘massive setback’ for nascent offshore wind sector | Windpower Monthly
The Australian government has rejected plans for an offshore wind port in Victoria that was considered key to development of the nascent sector.
The Port of Hastings was named the most suitable location for the establishment of an offshore wind terminal to support wind farms in the Bass Strait – Australia’s first offshore wind zone.
However, energy minister Tanya Pilbersek has rejected current plans for a staging and storage area for offshore wind components and equipment there.
In her decision, she wrote that the Port of Hastings Corporation’s proposal would have “clearly unacceptable impacts” on wetlands “of international importance”.
The likes of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Equinor, SSE Renewables, and Corio Generation have all announced plans for offshore wind projects in the Bass Strait zone.
Meg Lee, environment and planning partner at Australian law firm Hall & Wilcox, described the decision as a “major setback” for offshore wind off Victoria. The state aims to have 9GW of offshore wind capacity by 2040.
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.