Federal energy minister Chris Bowen says four offshore wind energy projects are currently vying for a spot in Western Australia’s Bunbury zone in the Indian Ocean, amid reports that several big-name contenders have abandoned plans to develop there.
At a press conference in Kwinana on Thursday, where Bowen announced funding for a massive green hydrogen project and for a silicon production plant, as well as the results of a major battery tender, the minister said it was “not the case” that offshore wind plans for Australia’s sixth declared offshore wind zone had stalled.
“I’m pleased to confirm we’ve received four bids for the offshore wind zone off Bunbury,” Bowen said.
“Four is a good number. They are all current and live and performing.
“Not all four will get support; there’s not room for all four. I will decide which bid or bids provide the best option for Western Australia.”
The Bunbury offshore wind zone was officially declared by Bowen in September of last year, after bring reduced in size and pushed further off the south-west Western Australia coast to better avoid recreational fishing areas.
The 4,000 square kilometre zone, which is split in half by a shipping lane, sits least 30 km from shore at its closest point, Cape Naturaliste, and 40-50 km from most coastal towns. It has the potential to support 11.4 GW of offshore wind capacity.
Since the Bunbury zone was declared, speculation has mounted that it has struggled to draw firm proposals, with the deadline to apply for feasibility licences pushed back twice.
As least three developers have dropped plans for WA projects, including OceanEx Energy, which had flagged plans for a 2GW of offshore wind in WA waters back in 2021, and German outfit Skyborn Renewables, which has disappeared its plans for the 1.6 GW Myalup Offshore Wind Farm.
Alinta Energy, too, has shelved its WA offshore wind plans, reportedly to focus on its much more well advanced Victoria plans – the 1.2 GW Spinifex project in the Southern Ocean zone, for which it was last month awarded a feasibility licence.
Meanwhile, the federal Liberal National Party opposition has been working hard to undermine Australia’s progress in offshore wind ever since it set the industry in motion as one of its last acts of government in 2022.
This has included regular threats from federal opposition leader Peter Dutton to rescind declared offshore wind development zones and rip up contracts, while also spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt about the nascent industry.
In the face of this – and in the rush to advance Labor policies before the federal election date is announced – Bowen has released a flurry of announcements advancing Australia’s offshore wind sector, with a particular focus on projects in the two development zones the leader of the opposition has singled out for scrapping if he is elected in May.
The announcements included final decisions to offer feasibility licences to the 1.2 gigawatt (GW) Spinifex Offshore project proposed for the Southern Ocean zone off the coast of Victoria and to the 2 GW Novocastrian Wind project proposed for the Hunter offshore zone off the coast of New South Wales.
But the Coalition threats have been enough to shake the confidence of at least one developer – the sole contender for a licence in the Illawarra offshore wind zone, BlueFloat Energy.
Bowen confirmed last month that BlueFloat requested a pause on the feasility licence application process for its 1.6 GW South Pacific project until after the federal election – a decision the minister said was influenced by the “sovereign risk created by Peter Dutton’s reckless and unprincipled opposition to investment and jobs in the renewables sector. ”
For the Western Australian zone, however, Bowen’s message is that it has more than enough interest from offshore wind developers.
“I’m pleased with the level of interest. Four bids is a good number of bids. It shows strong interest in Western Australian offshore wind,” he said on Thursday.
“Offshore wind … [is] not without some controversies and there’s people with genuine concerns, which we work through.
“Hence I reduced the area to take into account the concerns. I worked closely with Don Punch and listened to his concerns that he was raising on behalf of the community. There’s also disinformation out there about offshore wind.
“But four bids shows strength, and this is vital. Because the Western Australian heavy industry and economy is growing so fast, so rapidly, Western Australia needs more electricity, and it needs a lot more by 2040.
“Offshore wind will play a vital role in helping Western Australia create that.”
For his part, newly re-elected Labor state premier Roger Cook said that he had “no opposition” to offshore wind, as an important part of the state’s overall energy mix.
“I’m excited that the minister has today confirmed that there are four bids in there because that’s going to be an important part of what we do as part of decarbonising our industry in the south west,” Cook said.
“Don’t forget, this power is going to come from offshore directly to the south west grid. We don’t have to share it with anyone – it’s going to be WA electricity. And that’s going to be an important part of continuing to build our renewable energy resource base.
In the meantime, the premier added, “we expect to see a proliferation, a proliferation of onshore wind and solar projects taking shape over the next five to 10 years.”
