Abu-Dhabi backed Skyborn presents first of its expanded Australian offshore wind projects

The newly renamed Skyborn Renewables is to present the first of its three rebranded expanded offshore wind projects to the local community this coming week, as the many deep-pocketed players continue to ramp up their plans.

Skyborn is the new name of the Bremen-based wpd renewables that was bought by Global Infrastructure Partners earlier this year, and which is now also backed by the Abu-Dhabi state owned fund called Mubadala.

Skyborn has wasted no time rebranding and also expanding the size of the three offshore wind projects it wants to develop with the UK-based Australis Energy in Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia.

The first priority is the Cape Winds offshore project proposed off the coast of Discovery Bay, between Nelson and Portland in south-west Victoria and not far from the Portland Aluminium smelter.

The potential size of Cape Winds has increased five-fold from the original 400MW – still referenced in parts of the project’s web site – to more than tripled to around 2GW.

It will be competing for grid connection space in that region with the 1GW Spinifex project proposed by Alinta and the 1.2GW Southern Winds project put forward by Energy Estate and BlueFloat Energy.

See RenewEconomy’s Offshore Wind Farm Map of Australia

Skyborn is hosting its first local community information sessions in Portland, Nelson, and Cape Bridgewater this coming week to discuss its plans, which are being referred under the EPBC Act.

It is looking at turbines of up to 15MW, or even bigger.

Skyborn has also lifted the potential capacity of its renamed Myalup offshore wind project in Western Australia from 300MW to 1.9GW. It has also renamed its 600MW South Australia project to Kingston.