Against the backdrop of positive recent developments for the offshore wind industry off Australia’s east coast, DLA Piper brought together a panel of experts from the offshore wind industry, moderated by Business News senior editor Mark Beyer, to discuss proposed developments in the Indian Ocean off Bunbury.
As offshore wind emerges as the next big energy generation opportunity across Australia and into our state, the industry, still in its infancy in Australia, hit a critical milestone recently.
Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen announced six offshore wind feasibility licenses for the waters off Gippsland, Victoria, and a commitment to issue another six licenses
in the area subject to completion of First Nations consultation. There are more applications undergoing assessment in other areas along Australia’s east coast, including off the Hunter in New South Wales.
“The aggregate proposed generation capacity of the 12 projects who were awarded a feasibility license off the coast of Gippsland in Victoria, is a staggering 25 gigawatts of energy,” Melbournebased
partner and Head of Renewables (Australia) at DLA Piper, Chris Mitchell, said.
The offshore wind sector has seen significant growth since the Offshore Electricity Infrastructure Act was implemented at federal level in 2021.
“Since that time, Australia has attracted a large number of leading global and local developers, investors and other stakeholders that have seen Australia as an emerging offshore wind industry and have invested into the industry and chased the opportunity here,” Mr Mitchell said.
Offshore wind has had a strong global track record of more than 30 years since the first commercial-scale offshore wind turbines were commissioned off the coast of Denmark, in 1991. It can’t be ignored there have been some turbulent winds buffeting the sector globally in recent times, though, with lessons to be learnt from how the industry has played out, in the UK and US in particular.
“We need to acknowledge that these projects are very complex to develop, construct and ultimately commission. But – as DLA Piper has seen having advised on these projects across the globe – when they are done well, they have demonstrated to be proven in delivering significant sustainable benefits for industry, including helping deliver on net zero emissions targets and greening heavy industries. These projects have also had a proven track record of enlivening regional communities, creating jobs, and generating sustainable economic outcomes, as well as mitigating the risk of reliance on imported energy sources. It’s against that backdrop that we look to the opportunity now in Australia,” Mr Mitchell said.
The panel of experts included Owen Wilson, Executive Director at Australia’s newly established Offshore Infrastructure Regulator, Naomi Kerp, Senior Principal Environment Consultant and APAC Environment Lead for international energy consultancy Xodus Group, Claire Treeby, Director of Ports and Terminals Australia and Asia for international engineering consultancy Hatch, oceanography and offshore wind development specialist, Tim Sawyer, and Jack Brumpton, partner at DLA Piper and a specialist in offshore renewables projects.
With more than 25 years’ experience internationally in offshore wind, having worked on developing the offshore wind industry in the UK and as a former managing director of leading international developer Flotation Energy, Mr Sawyer sees the promising opportunity for offshore wind development off Bunbury. “Bunbury’s established port infrastructure with a grid nearby makes it an ideal hub to build the industry in WA,” he said.
Claire Treeby, Tim Sawyer, Owen Wilson, Naomi Kerp, Jack Brumpton
Some of the main benefits of offshore wind are its geographic diversification and it being a clean resource, he explained. “We are able to get much bigger turbines offshore and with the winds blowing more often we’re generating more electricity compared to land,” Mr Sawyer said.
Like any large project development, offshore wind raises challenges associated with other sea users and environmental impacts, however the benefits outweigh the costs. “There is an existential threat to our planet, we need to do something about climate change. The energy transition is necessary, but it is a significant challenge. Offshore wind will be part of it. We need fossil fuels in the short-to-medium term to get through a transition. But ultimately, that does have to reduce significantly if we’re going to try and reduce emissions,” Mr Sawyer said.
“Renewable energy is important, not just for reducing emissions, but economically. Every dollar invested now in solutions also represents huge savings down the track. The economics of offshore wind are lower costs, and there are higher capacity factors, which means less storage.”
Ms Kerp, who has 23 years’ experience as an environmental scientist in the resources industry and is one of the cofounders of the Women of Offshore Wind network, said the natural progression to move out of coal and oil and gas into cleaner renewable energies including offshore wind is needed to fill imminent supply gaps in the energy market.
“The Collie coal-fired power station is due to close in 2027 so there’s going to be a gap in energy demand that we need to fill.
“However, Bunbury has significant advantages compared to areas in other states. There is a strong offshore wind resource, many offshore service companies are headquartered in Perth and we also have a workforce with significant offshore expertise,” Ms Kerp said.
Following a decade in the environmental approvals team at Chevron, which included time as the approvals lead the Gorgon project, Ms Kerp moved to Xodus and the offshore wind space. She said WA’s experience with oil and gas projects such as Gorgon, Wheatstone, Pluto and Browse positions the State well.
“In terms of environmental approvals, an overlooked factor is the expertise of our State regulator, being the state EPA, compared to states where there’s no offshore oil and gas. In the likes of New South Wales and Tasmania the State regulator doesn’t have that experience in assessing those big offshore Commonwealth water bilateral agreement mega projects.”
As Director of Ports and Terminals Australia and Asia for Hatch, Ms Treeby, whose background is in maritime structural engineering, said the infrastructure investment required for Bunbury
port to support offshore wind is less than alternatives sites, as it has land available and limited ship traffic averaging only one export ship a day and one import ship a week. “The shipping channel is already deep enough for offshore wind vessels, so that’s a real plus for Bunbury compared to other sites in Victoria,” she said.
“The movement and berthing of the new vessels wouldn’t be impacting too much on what happens there currently, which has been raised as an issue at the east coast ports that are very busy and constrained.”ond the Australian border in the near future.”
