“They’re further away,and they don’t intrude into your constant field of view,” he said.
Loading
“I think that the more tricky issues for governments are going to be how they deal with the onshore component of connecting these things to the actual grid.”
He said another key advantage of offshore wind farms was they were exposed to more consistent wind than onshore farms,and therefore had more capacity to generate power.
“What makes a big difference to the economics of a wind turbine is if you go from being able to produce electricity 30 per cent to 40 per cent of the time;it makes a huge difference.”
Offshore wind farms have been seen to be less politically risky than onshore wind farms,but have still attracted local opposition.
The federal government removed the South Gippsland region from Australia’s first major offshore wind farm zone in Gippsland last year,after a campaign against the proposed farm’s proximity to Wilsons Promontory National Park.
Bowen announced in December the Gippsland zone would instead stretch from Orbost to south-east of Wilsons Prom,and said turbines would be installed 10 kilometres from the shore between Orbost and Port Albert rather than the five kilometres initially envisaged under the plan.
Turbines in the Southern Ocean zone would also be at least 10 kilometres from shore.
At state and federal levels,planning for the Southern Ocean wind farm zone has been underway for months.
Loading
In March,the Andrews government releasedanOffshore Wind Implementation Statementwhich said VicGrid – the body within the Department of Energy,Environment and Climate Action responsible for delivering renewable energy zones – expected to announce “specific transmission connection point locations and high-level route corridors in Gippsland and Portland in late 2023”.
Victorian Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio welcomed the addition of a second offshore wind zone in Victoria.
“Victoria is blessed with rich renewable sources,including our windy coastlines,[and] this will help us achieve our renewable energy target of 95 per cent by 2035,” she said.
Communities living along the affected coastline have been invited to take part in consultation sessions running in Warrnambool,Port Fairy,Portland,Mount Gambier and Port MacDonnell between August 1 and August 3. The public consultation period will run from June 28 to August 31.
For more information on the Southern Ocean offshore electricity area public consultation,visithttps://consult.dcceew.gov.au/oei-southern-ocean
Get to the heart of what’s happening with climate change and the environment. Our fortnightly Environment newsletter brings you the news,the issues and the solutions. Sign uphere.