Alinta lands powerful new partner for offshore wind project – and identifies a site near smelter

Alinta Energy’s plan to power the Portland Aluminium Smelter with up to 100% renewables from a 1GW-plus wind farm off the south-west coast of Victoria has gained a powerful new partner, with Japanese renewables outfit Jera Nex signing up to co-develop the project.

Alinta revealed on Wednesday that the Spinifex Offshore Wind Farm will be jointly developed with Parkwind, a fully owned subsidiary of Jera Nex, which is the newly launched renewable business of Japan’s largest coal and gas-fired power plant owner, Jera.

Alinta says the two companies have identified a site for the project in the declared Southern Ocean development zone (pictured below) and will continue to engage with local stakeholders to refine and progress their proposal.  

The Southern Ocean offshore wind development zone was officially declared by federal Labor in March, after being drastically pared back from the originally proposed 5,100km2 area spanning to Port MacDonnell in South Australia to a 1,030 km2 area off the coast of western Victoria.

The shrunken zone could still host up to 2.8GW of offshore wind energy – enough to power over 2 million homes, or two-and-a-half Portland Smelters. The existing smelter consumes up to 10 per cent of electricity in Victoria.

See RenewEconomy’s Offshore Wind Map of Australia

The $4 billion Spinifex project was first flagged by Alinta CEO Jeff Dimery in an interview on RenewEconomy’s weekly Energy Insiders podcast in 2021, as part of the thermal energy generation company’s plans to move beyond fossil fuels.

As the owner of the Loy Yang B coal plant in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, Alinta is part of a five year deal alongside AGL and Origin to provide subsidised power to the energy hungry Portland Smelter, both to keep it running and in exchange for its services in the increasingly crucial demand response market.

The Spinifex offshore wind farm is proposed to be connected to the National Electricity Market via the existing substation at the smelter and help transform it into one of Australia’s first to be powered by up to 100 per cent renewables.

It’s a plan that has won the support of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, which in 2022 awarded $1.5 million in grant funding towards the project’s wind resource assessment and accelerate initial development activities off the coast of Portland.

Jera Nex, of which Parkwind plays a central part, owns and operates seven wind farms across the world and has experience of in offshore wind and in developing supply chains for new offshore wind regions.

In Australia, it has a 75% stake in another offshore wind joint venture with oil giant Beach Energy that is bidding for a spot in the first round of developments proposed for waters off the coast of Gippsland in Victoria.

“Jera and Parkwind both have a great track-record in offshore wind and has pioneered some impressive engineering and construction techniques,” said Dimery on Wednesday.

“We love that spirit and the launch of Jera Nex, bringing the two companies’ renewable expertise together, is exactly what we’ll need in Australia to build a new industry from the ground up.”

Francois Van Leeuw, vice president of development and construction oOffshore at Jera Nex and co-CEO of Parkwind says there is “huge potential” for offshore wind in Australia.

“We’re looking forward to working closely with the local community to bring clean, sustainable energy to Australian homes and businesses,” he said.