BlueFloat moves ahead, and further north, on NSW floating offshore wind project

Spanish offshore wind developer BlueFloat Energy has announced a “re-launch” of its 1.6GW South Pacific Offshore Wind Project, which it now plans to develop 14-30km off the coast of New South Wales, between Shellharbour and Clifton.

BlueFloat Energy had been weighing up a couple of locations off the Illawarra and South Coast for the South Pacific project, including between Kiama and Jervis Bay.

In an update this week, BlueFloat says the preferred more northerly site for the 105 floating wind turbines has won out due to a strong and consistent wind resource and its proximity to the Illawarra’s existing industrial base.

The company says the project will create significant local economic benefits for the region with thousands of local jobs required during construction and hundreds in ongoing operations and maintenance.

“We want to deliver maximum benefit for the region, whilst also ensuring coexistence with industry and community,” said BlueFloat’s Australian country manager, Nick Sankey.

“It is important to us that we start conversations with the community early to share our plans and gather feedback,” he added.

“The first step for us is creating a map of where we’d like to develop the project and understanding design requirements.”

BlueFloat Energy has a pipeline of 32.4GW of both bottom-fixed and floating offshore wind projects across 10 countries, including Australia and New Zealand.

In Australia, BlueFloat is also working up the proposed 1.725MW Eastern Rise offshore wind project, located off the NSW Hunter coast, south of Sydney.

The federal Albanese government is in the process of establishing an area in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the NSW Hunter Region as Australia’s second official offshore wind development zone.

The area off the Illawarra coast – north of Sydney – is expected to form part of a separate federally declared zone, but is already a part of a fifth NSW government REZ that, like the Hunter REZ, is expected to have a large component of offshore wind, thanks to port facilities built as a legacy of the coal and steel industries in those two regions.

BlueFloat said this week that once the Illawarra offshore wind zone is declared by the federal government, the company will apply for a Feasibility Licence for the South Pacific project, which will allow for environmental studies to be completed, as well as assessment and planning approvals over an roughly five-year period.

Construction of the project is planned to start in early 2028 with the project expected to be fully operational by early 2031, the company says.

“Offshore wind is a new and emerging industry, it will take about seven years to plan, develop and construct projects,” said BlueFloat stakeholder and engagement manager Kate Lancaster on Tuesday.

“We are engaging very early in the process to ensure our projects are developed with community feedback and input.

“We will undertake extensive environmental studies into marine and bird life. We will share the findings with the community as we work through the assessment processes.

“Stakeholders and community will have many opportunities to provide formal and informal feedback during the design and approvals phases of the project development,” Lancaster said.