Flotation Energy flags plan for offshore wind farm in Perth waters

Plans to install a 500MW wind farm 20km off the coast of Perth are being investigated by UK outfit Flotation Energy, the same company behind early-stage plans for a 1.5GW offshore wind farm off the coast of Victoria’s Gippsland region.

A local newspaper report on Monday said the Scotland-based firm was studying the feasibility of installing up to 50 offshore wind turbines south of Rottnest, in Western Australia, roughly 20km out to sea.

“We’re going out to consultation, we’re doing the relevant studies to understand the opportunity and how it might work in Western Australia,” said Flotation Energy operations director Tim Sawyer, quoted in WA Today.

“So when you weigh up the grid, the wind, supply chain and environmental aspects, we think that off Perth is a good spot,” Sawyer added.

In an emailed statement, Professor Peter Newman from the Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute, said an offshore wind project in that location could alleviate pressure on the state’s grid by harnessing one of the largest sea breeze systems in the world.

“Offshore wind combined with solar could help alleviate summer pressures like those we had over Christmas by drawing power from high solar during the day and wind at other times,” the professor said.

The Flotation Energy project, which Sawyer stressed was in the very early stages, marks the fourth offshore project to be proposed for WA waters, including another UK-backed project also proposed for south of Perth.

Plans for a 300MW offshore wind farm were submitted for state environmental approval in April of 2021 by Australis Energy, a UK-based offshore wind farm developer that also has plans for waters in Victoria and South Australia.

Another developer, OceanEx Energy has floated plans for 2GW of offshore wind projects in Western Australia. It says it is backed by Green Tower, itself backed by Japan industrial group Daiwa.