Fury over wind farm plan for the Illawarra, NSW

An MP took to social media to announce an exciting new project worth $10 billion, but it ended up being labelled “absolute lunacy”.

“Total failure waiting to happen!”

“This is the most stupid idea ever.”

“Absolute lunacy.”

When an MP took to social media to announce the creation of a $10 billion offshore floating wind zone in the Illawarra, located in the NSW South Coast, she was greeted by fierce criticism from the public.

Federal MP Fiona Phillips took to Facebook to keep locals from her seat of Gilmore updated about the change, and detailed what she saw as benefits of the move.

That included the creation of jobs, and the ability of the wind farm to generate an impressive amount of energy.

However, that was not enough to elicit excitement about the idea of having wind turbines planted in our ocean.

“An offshore wind zone has today been declared off the Illawarra, securing regional jobs and providing energy security for homes and businesses,” Ms Phillips announced.

“The zone has been reduced by a third and is 30km from its southern point at Kiama.

“It has the potential to generate an estimated 2.9 GW of electricity, enough to power 1.8 million homes.

“It will bring new employment opportunities, creating an estimated 1740 new jobs during construction and 870 ongoing jobs. This includes engineers, technicians, operators, riggers, seafarers, dockworkers, project managers and administrators.

The Department of Climate Change, Energy the Environment and Water Illawarra wind farm. Proposed zone.

Fiona Phillips MP said wind farms would create jobs. Picture: Facebook

“As well as providing reliable renewable energy to Australian industry, offshore wind projects will be required to maximise their use of Australian supply chains and closely consult with local industry and workers in their project plans to ensure local workers and businesses benefit from the establishment of this new industry.”

The 1022km stretch of the NSW coast will be the fourth largest wind farm in the country. It’s expected the turbines will be constructed 20km out from the Illawarra coast.

Ms Phillip’s post was met with outrage when shared on the local Shoalhaven Incident Updates Facebook group.

“Classic case of destroying the environment to save the environment. Surely there are better options than this unaffordable madness,” one commenter wrote.

Another said: “What about the whale migration? The cost of fixing them and repairs after a huge easterly low pressure system? The cost for roads to get them to the coast? Why are most other countries overseas that have offshore wind farms stopping? Are we that stupid just to look good in front of the world just to cut our emissions?”

A proposal to build an offshore wind farm in the Illawarra has been met with fury. Picture: Mario Tamar/Getty Images via AFP

While a third commented: “This is ludicrous, I will do everything to oppose this.”

And another wrote: “I heard the other week that it costs 2.5 times more per wind turbine to build on water than on land! And we are all paying for this!”

Others were not happy about the Illawarra being picked as the location instead of Sydney: “If its so … fantastic, put it off Bondi Beach and see how green and environmentally friendly it is then”.

“I am so bloody sick of the Illawarra being used as crash test dummies for the rest of Sydney.”

Others said they would vote out the current government over this decision, writing; “good bye Labour you just lost power”, “cannot wait for the next election” and “demise of the Labor Party”.

The Department of Climate Change, Energy the Environment and Water Illawarra wind farm. Proposal from Bulli Lookout 10km out.

However, there were some supporters of the wind farm.

“All the haters talking about the impacts on the ocean have no idea … same people probably get p**sed on cruises!”

“OK – so it appears that a significant number of people are totally against the continued use of fossil fuels, but they don’t want wind farms built off the coast, nor large solar farms anywhere near them and definitely won’t even consider nuclear! So can someone please explain to me just how they are intending to power our existing domestic electrical appliances/devices and then recharge the ever increasing number of electric cars?”

Wind turbines generate electricity near Block Island, Rhode Island, US. Picture: John Moore/Getty Images/AFP

The government’s renewed plans for the zone mean it will exclude significant environmental areas including the Shelf Rocky Reef Key Ecological Feature, the Biologically Important Area for the Little Penguin and the Southern Right Whale migration and reproduction area.

In a separate post Ms Phillips made that included a video which insisted whales would not be killed by the wind farm, a commenter posted expressing concerns about birds being killed by the wind turbines instead.

Ms Phillips responded: “Any offshore wind proposals have to have sign off under the federal Environmental Protection Biodiversity and Conservation Act. This a rigorous approval process and also one that if needed can make stipulations on offshore wind projects taking into account migratory birds, etc.

“As an example that might mean turbines not running at a particular time at a particular period of the year.”

Ms Phillips told news.com.au the wind zone is good news for the region.

“I welcome the declaration of the offshore energy zone off the Illawarra,” Ms Phillips said.

“This is about getting more renewable energy into the grid, which provides energy security and puts downward pressure on power prices. That’s good news for households, businesses and local jobs.”

Ms Phillips said the whales will be fine. Picture: Facebook

For those who have voiced concerns, she said that all offshore wind projects in Australia are subject to environmental approval requirements under environmental legislation, including the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

Ms Phillips also said that projects must demonstrate how they will ensure impacts to protected species such as whales, and migratory birds, “will not be unacceptable and show how their projects will contribute to nature positive outcomes”.

Offshore wind project developers will need to seek all required approvals and licences under Commonwealth and state legislation before any offshore infrastructure activities can occur.

“Let me be clear, anybody that opposes this, opposes cheaper power prices and more local jobs,” Ms Phillips said.

“What is Andrew Constance and Peter Dutton’s plan – Nuclear? Nuclear is the most expensive form of energy which means higher power prices.