A new report on Australia’s offshore wind potential calls for a renewed consideration of how the technology can contribute to Australia’s future clean energy mix.
New research has found Australia has very high quality and abundant offshore wind resources close to the existing transmission grid.
More than 2,000 gigawatts (GW) could potentially be installed within 100 kilometres of current substations and excluding environmentally restricted and low wind areas – far in excess of total current electricity generation.
The International Energy Agency views offshore wind as one of the ‘big three’ sources of clean energy alongside solar and onshore wind. However, Australia has yet to fully capitalise on its potential to harness the capacity in this new energy resource.
The report identifies ideal sites for offshore wind in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia, close to transmission grids and with high capacity factors.
New developments in floating offshore wind turbines will also allow access to high-quality deeper water sites that were previously inaccessible.
The Offshore Wind Potential for Australia Project evaluated the feasibility and potential of offshore wind to contribute to Australia’s energy needs and identifies barriers to its large-scale development. Key findings included:
- A regulatory regime for the development of offshore renewable energy in Commonwealth waters needs to be established to enable timely permitting and leasing decisions and should consider including marine allocation of space for offshore renewable energy projects.
- Offshore wind should be incorporated into national and state energy planning as the project finds that across all states, offshore wind has the potential to provide a significant amount of energy at times that other renewable energy is not producing, along with higher capacity factors.
- Offshore wind should be incorporated into planning for the National Hydrogen Strategy and ‘Energy Superpower’ scenarios. If Australia is to become an ‘Energy Superpower’, offshore wind could be an important source of power located adjacent to many ports and industrial facilities to meet increased demand.
- Strategic investment in offshore wind should be considered by Federal and State Governments, as seen by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and Australian Renewable Energy Agency to accelerate large-scale solar, to assist in de-risking and developing local offshore wind.
- Offshore wind can develop into a significant source of maritime employment.
- Detailed research is required to assess cost-benefits of offshore wind to energy, environmental and social systems.
Project Leader, Mark Hemer of CSIRO and the Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre, said: “Offshore wind has the potential to contribute to the energy system through higher capacity factors and diversity of energy supply. This is particularly important under ‘Energy Superpower’ scenarios including mass electrification and hydrogen production.”
Chris Briggs, Research Director from the Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney highlighted the employment potential and opportunities for fossil fuel industry workers: “Offshore wind has been an important source of alternative employment as Europe transitions to clean energy, especially the offshore oil and gas sector where the skills are often highly transferrable. Offshore wind can play an important role in a ‘just transition’ in Australia.”
The project brought together expertise from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney, Saitec Offshore, and the Maritime Union of Australia with contributions from the Electrical Trades Union, Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union and Australian Council of Trade Unions.