Australian offshore wind farm developer Star of the South has begun seabed and marine mammal studies to inform the development of a 2GW offshore wind farm off the coast of Gippsland in the state of Victoria.
The developer said it has begun a two-week campaign to map the sea floor, measure seabed depths and identify buried structures such as cables or shipwrecks.
“We’re undertaking underwater investigations to collect important data to help inform the wind farm design, including the number and type of wind turbines,” said Star of the South chief development officer Erin Coldham.
“Mapping the seabed and collecting baseline information on the ground conditions is an important part of understanding the site and planning for an offshore wind project off the south coast of Gippsland,” she added.
Acoustic monitoring work is also being carried out in order to record the sounds of marine mammals up to 20km away.
A light plane is performing aerial survey work to visually identify the type of birds and sea life around the project site, while an onshore bird survey is counting and tagging birds at nearby sand dunes, the developer added.
The work is not the first data gathering that has gone on to support the project.
Wind and wave monitoring equipment has been out at sea since November 2019 to collect information about the wind profile and wave conditions in the area.