Offshore wind bidder signs up new partners for 2GW project in Bunbury zone

Plans to develop a 2 gigawatt (GW) offshore wind farm 40km off the Western Australia coast have gained fresh momentum, with two new partners added to the project, including UK-based global offshore wind developer Barrington Energy.

Perth-based outfit Wind with Purpose says it has signed a partnership agreement with Barrington, as well as with the Gnaala Karla Booja Aboriginal Corporation (GKB), to co-develop the proposed Catalpa Offshore Wind Farm in WA waters.

The Catalpa project would be located southwest of Garden Island as part of the Bunbury offshore wind zone, which was officially declared by federal energy minister Chris Bowen in September last year, after bring reduced in size, cut into two parts and pushed further off the coast.

Wind With Purpose (WWP), which is headed up by founder and CEO Chris Kearney, says the new agreement gives GKB an equity shareholding in the offshore wind farm, reflecting a shared commitment to support the meaningful participation of First Nations communities.

WWP says the deal will provide employment and training to First Nations people and support GKB and community driven initiatives like the Cultural Resilience Fund and Sea Ranger Project.

“This partnership is a key milestone for the Catalpa Offshore Wind Farm and Australia’s energy transition,” WWP chair David Thomas said in a statement late last week.

“[It is] a demonstration of our commitment to delivering economic and social benefits to Indigenous communities and other Western Australians.”

“This partnership is aligned with our Moorditj Mila (Strong Future) Strategic Plan and helps us to build a stronger future for our community by creating employment, training and sustainable business opportunities.

“We look forward to playing a key role in feasibility studies – especially environmental stewardship and cultural heritage protection. We await the Australian Government’s decision on a feasibility license, which will enable detailed studies and planning to confirm the Project’s commercial and operational viability,” said Penny.

The update on the Catalpa project comes amid speculation that the federal Labor government has struggled to draw firm proposals for the WA offshore wind zone, 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.

But Bowen has refuted any suggestion that interest in Indian Ocean zone is waning, and recently confirmed there are four projects are currently vying for a spot.

“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 minister said earlier this month.

WWP has both onshore and offshore wind power plans for Western Australia, including to install up to 250 MW of onshore turbines at the industrial estates of Kwinana, Rockingham, Latitude32 and Henderson.

A separate project, called Southern Scarp Wind, is developing a portfolio of up to five wind farms with a total capacity of around 2.5 GW alongside the Darling Fault in south-western WA.