Size of Victoria’s Southern Ocean offshore wind zone slashed to a fifth – MASHAHER

ISLAM GAMAL5 March 2024Last Update :
Size of Victoria’s Southern Ocean offshore wind zone slashed to a fifth – MASHAHER



The Bonney Upwelling is an important habitat not only for blue, pygmy blue and southern right whales but also for albatross, petrels and many fish species.

However, groups such as Greenpeace and the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) have still backed the rollout of large-scale renewable energy, including offshore wind, as a necessary measure to drive down fossil fuel emissions and reduce global warming.

While the AMCS has called for critical marine habitats to be left untouched, the organisation ultimately backed the plan to develop offshore wind.

“Burning coal and gas is harming the ocean, driving marine heatwaves,” AMCS said in its submission. “To protect our oceans and their extraordinary wildlife, we need to stop generating our electricity through burning coal and gas, stop new fossil fuel developments, and drive renewable energy generation.”

The Electrical Trades Union (ETU) is a strong backer of offshore wind, both for the jobs large-scale projects generate during construction and for the potential to support ongoing employment through the provision of low-cost electricity.

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In its government submission, the union said the Southern Ocean project could create an industrial hub around the Portland aluminium smelter, and argued offshore wind developers should be required to use local labour and suppliers.

“This area has a skilled workforce, great electricity grid connections, deep water port infrastructure, an existing high voltage substation, and strong and consistent winds that blow at times that solar power isn’t available,” the ETU’s submission said.

In a statement, Bowen said the wind zone declaration would be a major step towards Australia’s clean energy future. Victorian Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said the project, which is accepting feasibility licence applications until July, would allow Victoria to reach its net-zero emissions target by 2045.

The Victorian government has also set targets of at least 2GW of offshore wind capacity by 2032, 4GW by 2035 and 9GW by 2040. However, there have been political ructions over the massive energy transmission lines that would send the power generated from new offshore wind farms into northern Victoria and even NSW.

Earlier this year, Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek also rejected the state-owned Port of Hastings Corporation’s application to build a terminal to ship wind turbine parts to Western Victoria due to the project’s impact on internationally significant wetlands.

Australia’s two other established offshore wind zones are off the coast of Gippsland and the NSW Hunter region. Other zones have been proposed off the NSW Illawarra region, Tasmania, and Bunbury in Western Australia.

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Source Agencies

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