Australia’s offshore wind market saw significant milestones in the last month across the areas Gippsland, Hunter and Southern Ocean.
In Gippsland an intense month concluded with the award of the final six feasibility licenses
All 12 projects, totaling 25 GW of potential capacity in Gippsland, have now successfully concluded the First Nations consultations and received the feasibility license. The projects now move forward to assess the feasibility of the awarded area by investigating the site conditions and obtaining relevant licenses for construction and operation.
The feasibility assessment will go on, while the projects also need to prepare for the first offtake auction in the state of Victoria, which is expected to kick off by end of 2024. However, some projects might be further along than others in terms of development and readiness to bid in the auction.
In Hunter the first project received preliminary approval, while many other applications overlap
The Equinor and Oceanex’s 2 GW Novocastrian floating project received a preliminary approval, which is subject to the First Nations consultations. All other applications are overlapping and the decision on these is still awaiting mitigation of the overlaps.
The finalization and award of feasibility licenses is on the horizon – but the 15-month award process in Gippsland could indicate that it may still take some time.
Southern Ocean closed for offshore wind project applications in early July
In the Southern Ocean area, Jera Nex and Alinta Energy announced the application for their Spinifex project. It will be interesting to see if authorities can reduce the lead time from application to award or whether the current process for mitigating overlapping applications will delay the process again.
Aegir Insights' market intelligence on Australia's offshore wind market
Aegir Insights’ subscribing clients can dive deeper into developments and opportunities in the Australian offshore wind market with our market reports on the region. Reach out to us for information on our market and auction intelligence products and developments in Australia.
For exclusive analysis on key markets, developments, and technologies shaping offshore wind, sign up for Aegir Insights' newsletter.