Offshore wind farms appear to be canned after South East project fails

The failure of an almost $2 billion offshore wind farm project in the state’s South East has sounded the death knell for any future proposals.

A South Australian offshore wind farm industry appears dead in the water after the cancellation last week of a proposed $2bn project slated to be built at Kingston in the South-East.

The Kingston decision follows a similar move earlier in the year when the proposed Port MacDonnell offshore wind project was shelved.

The federal government, which defines the approved zones where offshore wind farms can be built, has revealed there are none currently in SA and there are no plans to designate any further areas.

The Malinauskas government opposed the developments at both Kingston and the Southern Wings project at Port MacDonnell – and has no desire to approve an off- shore wind farm in state waters.

Independent MP for the seat of McKillop Nick McBride, said the cancelled wind farm project was a “missed and lost opportunity”. Picture: Tom Huntley

Nick McBride, the independent MP for the state seat of MacKillop, which includes Kingston, said he was disappointed the project was not going ahead.

“The community would have appreciated a large development like this,’’ Mr McBride said.

“It is a missed and lost opportunity for the township of Kingston.’’

Mr McBride said Kingston was a perfect place to build wind turbines because the sea floor was “like a desert’’ and “not a rich ground’’ for aquaculture.

“I think government and bureaucracy got in the way,’’ he said.

In announcing the project in 2021, the UK-based Australis Energy predicted the wind farm would employ 800 people during the construction phase and support 100 ongoing jobs. At the time, it hoped to start construction in the “summer of 2024-25 and be generating electricity in 2027’’.

“The project will have a renewable electricity generation capacity of up to 600MW, enough to power over 400,000 South Australian homes,’’ Australis Energy chairman Mark Petterson then said.

The decision to cancel the Kingston wind farm follows a similar move earlier in the year when the proposed Port MacDonnell offshore wind project was shelved. Picture: Andy Buchanan / AFP

The following year, German company Skyborn Renewables bought a 50 per cent stake in the Kingston project, as well as other Australis’ proposed wind farms in Victoria and WA.

Last week Australis removed all references to those three projects from its website. Skyborn Renewables Australia managing director Mirjam Tome declined to comment.

The Kingston project was originally planned to include 75 turbines and sit in a mixture of state and commonwealth waters.

But after the state government objected to the proposal, it was shifted to commonwealth waters, which begin 3 nautical miles (5.6km) from shore.

Kingston mayor Jeff Pope said it was “disappointing’’ the project had been scrapped.

Mr Pope said there had been community support for the wind farm, including from local commercial fishers.

“We are like any other council, we are looking for growth and we’re looking for more people to come to town and employment,’’ he said.

“You keep your mind wide open.’’

However, a state government spokesman said the original application had been rejected “because the proposed benefits did not outweigh the potential harm to the local marine environment, aquaculture and fishing industries’’.

“For similar reasons, the state government also sought and was granted an exemption from the commonwealth’s proposed wind farm zone that was to run from Warrnambool in Victoria to Port MacDonnell.”

In May, the federal government granted feasibility licences for six projects.

“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,’’ it said.

Including Gippsland, the federal government has declared six zones for offshore wind farm development around Australia. Other zones are off the Hunter and Illawarra regions in NSW, an area near Warrnambool in Victoria, Bass Strait and in the Indian Ocean near Bunbury in WA.

The construction of offshore wind farms has become a contentious issue in some coastal communities.

Liberal opposition leader Peter Dutton has said he would rescind the declared wind farm zone off the Hunter Region in NSW if elected because it “ignored serious economic, social and environmental concerns raised by local residents’’. Mr Dutton has also said he would scrap the Illawarra and WA zones.

The Liberal leader has focused on building nuclear power plants to address Australia’s energy needs.

Environmental groups welcomed the cancellation of both SA projects.

A spokesman for Encounter Whales – Southern Right Whale Conservation and Protection, Elizabeth Steele-Collins, welcomed the applicant’s withdrawal saying it was “good news for the whales’’.