NSW’s Hunter Valley named offshore wind zone

NSW’s Hunter Valley has been named as Australia’s second offshore wind zone, a crucial plank of the nation’s attempt to hit ambitious renewable energy goals over the next decade.

NSW’s Hunter Valley has been named as Australia’s second offshore wind zone by the federal government, a crucial plank of the nation’s attempt to hit ambitious renewable energy goals over the next decade.

Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the declared area, which stretches over 1800sq km between Swansea and Port Stephens, could generate up to 5 gigawatts of wind energy, enough to power an estimated 4.2 million homes and power local industries.

The revised zone will be 20km from the coast in the north and over 35km from the coast in the south with offshore infrastructure limited to a height of 260m to address aviation safety.

“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,” Mr Bowen said.

“Today’s declaration opens the door for a new industry in the Hunter, which could create over 3000 construction jobs and another 1560 ongoing jobs.”

Australian energy developer Oceanex and international player Equinor backed the government’s move, with the two companies working together on the $10bn Novocastrian offshore wind farm in the Hunter with potential capacity of 2 gigawatts by 2030.

“This is an exciting next stage of the process and our project proposal. We are ready to progress the Novocastrian offshore wind farm with Oceanex and welcome an imminent call for feasibility licence applications,” Equinor’s senior director for offshore wind in Australia Thomas Hansen said.

Opening the Hunter to the renewable power source may be a boost to Australia’s hopes of dramatically reshaping its electricity generation mix. Australia expects to replace its fleet of coal power stations, the largest source of electricity in the country, in little more than a decade, but is struggling to build enough renewable energy sources to compensate.

Offshore wind projects are often much larger than onshore wind or solar projects, offering far better compensation for the loss of coal-fired power stations.

Top business leaders have already warned Labor’s pledge to treble the amount of renewable energy in the grid by 2030 is at risk as the ­nation is failing to build enough green power.

A report released on Wednesday said Australia must find $1.5 trillion by the end of the decade to meet 2050 green targets in an effort experts say would need to mirror the reconstruction of Europe after World War II. It says that nearly 50GW of planned and committed renewable energy generation falls well short of the 230GW estimated to be needed by 2035, and a drastic acceleration of both onshore and offshore wind developments would be needed to provide future power.