Two offshore wind projects planned off the coast of Victoria, Australia, have secured financial support from the state government to progress further.
Star of the South has entered into an A$43.1m (€27.6m) in support from the Victorian government to progress key development activities and kick-start a local offshore wind industry.
Meanwhile, Flotation Energy, which is developing the 1.5GW Seadragon offshore wind farm, secured A$2.3m from the state government’s Energy Innovation Fund to move forward development of the project.
Star of the South will invest A$23.6m and the Victorian government contribute A$19.5m to co-fund the pre-construction development activities, with knowledge being shared to support the creation of an exciting new offshore wind sector in Victoria.
The project has welcomed the opportunity to work together with government to accelerate offshore wind development in Victoria.
The boost will allow Star of the South to continue investing in site investigations in Gippsland, including onshore and offshore geotechnical investigations, transmission design, industry development and ongoing community and stakeholder engagement.
Offshore wind is one of the fastest-growing energy technologies globally, offering a consistent and reliable form of renewable power that complements onshore generation, while creating new jobs and economic investment in regional areas.
Located off Gippsland’s south coast, Star of the South would harness Bass Strait’s strong offshore winds with up to 200 turbines in the sea, connecting to the grid in the Latrobe Valley.
If built to its full capacity, Star of the South would generate up to 2.2GW of clean energy.
Star of the South CEO Casper Frost Thorhauge said: “We welcome the Victorian Government’s funding commitment and thank them for their leadership and partnership to progress the development of a local offshore wind industry.”
If Star of the South is approved and proceeds to construction, the project could start construction as early as 2025 with full power toward the end of the decade.
The project is jointly owned by Australian Founders, Terry Kallis, Andy Evans and Peter Sgardelis, with investment and majority ownership from leading offshore wind developer Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.
Seadragon will be located off the coast of Gippsland’s Ninety Mile Beach, adjacent to existing oil and gas infrastructure.
Carolyn Sanders, Flotation Energy’s Melbourne based project development manager, said, “We are assessing the opportunity to re-use some of the assets that are no longer needed for oil and gas production for our offshore wind farm”.
“This is a true energy transition project that will help to create hundreds of local jobs and billions of dollars of investment in a new offshore industry. We are determined to secure Gippsland and the Latrobe Valley’s position as Victoria’s energy production hub.
“An important and very significant part of our project is to work with existing facility operators to leverage their experience in Bass Strait and consider re-use of offshore oil & gas assets.
“Flotation Energy will move through the development process, including consenting, in consultation with a wide range of stakeholders and would be pleased to hear from local communities and potential supply chain partners.”