Bowen blindsided by Bluefloat as offshore wind debate gets really weird

Federal energy minister Chris Bowen has admitted he has been blindsided by the decision of Spanish offshore wind developer Bluefloat to seek environmental approvals for a project in the Illawarra region of NSW, despite not having a licence to do even a feasibility study in a zone that is yet to be declared.

News of Bluefloat’s decision to seek environmental approvals for its 1.6GW South Pacific project emerged after its application was open for public input, and rapidly stoked the already flaring embers of discontent in the region.

Bowen, in an interview on ABC radio on Tuesday morning in response to the news, made it clear he had no advanced warning, and suggested it was premature and potentially a “waste of money”.

“I can completely understand why people would be saying, “Well, hang on a second, what’s going on here? With this particular story this morning,” a clearly annoyed Bowen said.

“An offshore wind farm can only go in if I declare a zone. It can only go in – if I issue a feasibility licence and then a commercial licence and if it gets environmental approvals.”

Asked why Bluefloat would go ahead and “self declare”, Bowen said:

“A bit hard for me to say, Melinda (ABC presenter Melinda James) because it’s a matter for them. They’ve taken this decision. Obviously there’s other people interested in this.”

Melinda James: “Were you aware that they were going to do this?”

Chris Bowen: “No.”

He then added:

“If you go to the time and expense and effort of declaring – of preparing an application you’re taking a risk that that money may or may not be wasted at the end of the day because, you know, where they’re proposing may or may not be inside the zone that I eventually declare. If it’s not, sorry, bad luck to them. They’ve wasted their money.”

RenewEconomy has been told by other wind developers that they too were frustrated by the news, given the need to “tread softly” given the pushback against offshore wind proposals in some communities, and the controversy being fuelled by the federal Coalition, and by conspiracy theories on social media.

“I don’t know why they would choose to rock the boat like that,” said one offshore wind developer, who declined to be named because of the sensitivities of the issue.

The response from community groups, and Bowen, caused Bluefloat to quickly rescind its referral.

“We reviewed the timing of the application,” Bluefloat Australia CEO Nick Sankey told RenewEconomy, adding the company will now wait until after the zone is declared. “We’ve had a few discussions,” he said, but did not say with whom.

It is not the first time that Bluefloat’s projects have courted controversy. Its 1.2 GW Southern Winds offshore wind project in South Australia has angered local lobster fisherman, and the state government, and could lead to the proposed southern offshore wind zone being effectively cut in half.

Its proposal for the 1.75 GW Eastern Rise project near the central coast sparked intense opposition from communities around Norah Head and was a contributing factor to the Hunter Valley zone being significantly redrawn.

And its planned project in the Illawarra – the 1.6 GW South Pacific project – has already been moved once – further north from Shellharbour where some say the council was reportedly offended after the company published images of what the project might look like.

That project was being developed in conjunction with Energy Estate, but the local company withdrew from this and other projects it had announced in 2021 it would co-develop with Bluefloat.

“I’m very happy with the feedback we’re getting,” Sankey told RenewEconomy. “This is what informs where you want to site a project. We have no regrets … we are very positive about the future of offshore wind in Australia.”

The situation is already complicating a messy and sometimes bizarre debate about offshore wind, where Opposition leader Peter Dutton and Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce, both climate deniers and pro nuclear advocates who make fun of looming natural disasters, are now pretending to be concerned by the fate of whales.

Their claim that whales may crash into offshore wind turbines have been ridiculed, including by Greenpeace which points out that the biggest threat to whales is global warming and the heating of the oceans.

“Not a single peer-reviewed study has found that offshore wind farms kill whales,” the environmental group said in a LinkedIn post.

“Building offshore wind is way, way better for ocean wildlife than fossil fuels, especially offshore gas and oil. The difference between sonar mapping for wind and seismic blasting for gas is the difference between having Smooth FM on in the background, and being front row at a Slipknot gig.”

Community groups also report videos are being widely circulated – and widely viewed and believed – that include some even more preposterous claims, including that wind turbines cannot work by themselves because they need coal fired generators to spin the blades, and on inflated costs of renewable energy support schemes.

The social media campaigns appear to be led by an interesting mixture of nuclear fanatics, the fossil fuel industry, climate deniers, and covid conspiracy theorists, and are making it difficult for those with genuine concerns about the developments to have a sensible debate.

The ABC also reports claims by anti-wind groups that a scientific paper had been published in the respected Marine Policy magazine which proved dangers to whales had been thoroughly debunked.

“That paper does not exist,” Professor Quentin Hanich, the editor in chief of Marine Policy told the ABC.

“We never received this imaginary paper … I am seeing no evidence that the study ever took place.”

The ABC report also quotes claims by offshore wind opponents that the turbines will stop coastal breezes getting to shore, and reduce ocean swell sizes.