Brisbane company weighs offshore wind projects off Queensland coast

Brisbane energy company Orchid Energy says it is investigating the feasibility of building a multi-gigawatt portfolio of offshore wind farms off the coast of Queensland.

If successful, these projects would mark some of the first serious forays into offshore wind in the state.

Queensland has not been identified as a priority region for offshore wind development, with Australia’s most significant resources identified in waters off the southern states of Australia.

But a report funded by the federal government and published by Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre identified average wind speeds in the range of nine to 10 metres per second (m/s) off the coast of Far North Queensland, between Cooktown and Cape York.

For comparison, mean annual wind speeds in the North Sea, a major wind hub for the UK, are between nine and ten m/s.

That report also identified general good quality offshore wind resources off the coast of north Queensland more generally, averaging between eight and nine m/s.

Orchid Energy’s plans are focused on three priority areas they say are suitable for large-scale offshore renewable energy generation – two offshore renewable energy projects off the coast of Gladstone (up to 6GW) and a 4GW innovative floating wind energy project approximately 30 kilometres from shore off south-east Queensland with good proximity to the Port of Brisbane.

 

National average wind speed (m/s) from 2010-2019 within the EEZ study area at 100 m height. White regions represent areas where average wind speeds below 6 m/s or environmental restrictions exist. Source: Blue Economy CRC

 

Orchid Energy says it believes offshore wind could be an option for balancing the spread of onshore clean energy projects in the state, and offering a “robust means” of contributing to the Queensland State Government target of delivering 22 GW of new renewable capacity by 2035.

“We’ve been working for the past 18 months to identify appropriate sites to host quality offshore wind projects and contribute to Queensland’s energy transformation journey,” said Orchid Energy CEO Clint Purkiss.

“Projects in these proposed locations would deliver significant energy security and reliability for energy consumers and help lock in the volume of gigawatts needed to reach Queensland’s ambitious clean energy targets.

“In addition, these large-scale offshore wind projects will also bring long-term economic and social value for Queensland through industry stimulation, regional growth and ongoing jobs in the clean energy sector.”

Purkiss said the economic dividends would extend into the state’s economy at large.

“These projects will also add to Queensland’s planned $62 billion in renewable energy investments and stimulate the development of new, profitable and resilient supply chains when you account for the phenomenal volume of materials, components and skills required to deploy such large scale technology at sea,” he said.

The Gladstone project is likely to raise hackles due to its proximity to the Great Barrier Reef. Purkiss said Orchid Energy are currently working through technical and environmental analyses.

“It’s been prerequisite for us that all options for the development of offshore wind are genuinely sustainable, to provide diversity to onshore generation and storage, to protect our world-class environmental assets and to simultaneously drive massive growth of key industries including the resources, manufacturing, ports and fuel export sectors,” he said.