Offshore wind sector feeling the Dutton effect, even from the shadows of opposition
Labor’s offshore wind plans are under fire from all corners of the conservative landscape, as Peter Dutton’s threats to rescind declared development zones and rip up contracts spread uncertainty.
Federal energy minister Chris Bowen has released a flurry of announcements advancing Australia’s fledgling offshore wind sector, with a particular focus on projects in the two development zones Dutton has singled out for scrapping.
The announcements included progress on the 1.2 GW Spinifex Offshore project proposed for the Southern Ocean zone off the coast of Victoria, and the 2GW Novocastrian Wind project proposed off the coast of NSW.
But it was two smaller bits of news buried within the releases from Bowen that got all the media attention.
The first, a decision not to offer a licence to the 1.5 GW Seadragon project in the Gippsland zone, and the second a request from a project proponent to postpone a decision on its future.
Headlines bought in to Dutton’s narrative that the offshore wind rules that his own party legislated have been “bungled” by Labor.
The LNP has been undermining Labor’s offshore wind progress almost every step of the way, ever since it set the industry in motion as one of its last acts of government in 2022.
Bowen’s office says this has been a decision based on merit, alone – there were, after all, 37 applications for feasibility licences in the Gippsland offshore wind zone, a number that has been whittled down to 12 to move to the next phase.
The other bit of news that grabbed the headlines was the pause on a decision for the the sole contender for a licence in the Illawarra offshore wind zone, the 1.6 GW South Pacific project being proposed by BlueFloat Energy.
The Illawarra offshore wind zone, also off the cost of NSW, has also been a target of LNP threats to tear up contracts, although in this case a spoken threat from Nationals leader David Littleproud.
Bowen said in a separate statement that BlueFloat had requested the pause until after the election – due to the “sovereign risk created by Peter Dutton’s reckless and unprincipled opposition ”.
But the National Party was quick to claim the decision as a win, describing BlueFloat’s project as a “a dumb idea that was never going to work.”