Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen has hit out at “misinformation” as he confirmed a new offshore wind zone in New South Wales.
Mr Bowen on Saturday said the new zone in the Pacific Ocean was 20 kilometres off the Illawarra coastline, from Wombarra to Kiama, with a total area of 1,022 km2.
He said the government had taken into account “community concerns” in determining the final zone and reduced the size of the area by a third compared to the original proposal.
The declared zone, which is the fourth nationwide, “excludes significant environmental areas”, including the Southern Right Whale migration and reproduction area, and the Biologically Important Area for the Little Penguin.
The government anticipates the zone could potentially generate 2.9 GW of electricity which would provide enough power for 1.8 million home while placing the Illawarra “at the centre of Australia’s renewable energy future”.
“This is important for renewable energy, important for jobs. But this is also a balanced declaration,” Mr Bowen told reporters.
“We have listened to community concerns. Many, many submissions, many concerns raised. We’ve sorted through legitimate issues, legitimate concerns that have been raised on behalf of the community.
“We’ve sorted out misinformation and disinformation. And I have declared a zone which is smaller than that originally proposed, and further away from the coast.”
Mr Bowen said the final zone addressed concerns about the visual impact of wind turbines and fishing in the area.
“One of the concerns raised was visual amenity in this beautiful part of the world which I know very well. To ensure that visual amenity is protected, by moving the zone to 20km away, that achieves that outcome,” he said.
“On most days you won’t see the wind turbines at 20km away. Also, we’ve taken into account environmental concerns and shipping issues to ensure a balanced proposal.
“I just want to talk a moment about fishing because there’s a lot of misinformation out there about fishing. Some people assume that when you see that declaration on the map, that you can’t fish inside that area. That’s not true.
“There will be exclusion zones around each turbine – small exclusion zone of around 50m. The turbines are usually around 2km apart. Within that people can fish, can go about their recreational fishing as they wish. That will all be assessed as part of the licence application.”
Licence applications to operate within the offshore wind zone will be open from Monday, and run until August.
The government estimates 1,740 jobs will be created during the construction phase, with 870 ongoing jobs, including engineers, technicians and seafarers.
The initial proposal irked some residents in the Illawarra, with a group called the Coalition Against Offshore Wind Farms established to voice concerns about the plan.
In October, more than 2,000 people attended a rally in Flagstaff Hill to make their concerns known to the government, which included the proximity to major whale corridors, the then 10km distance from the coastline, and the proposed 1,461 km2 size.
Cunningham Labor MP Alison Byrnes said: “Amending the zone so that it commences 20 kilometres from the coast and excluding significant environmental areas is a sensible compromise that reflects the majority of community opinion while helping to achieve our shared goals of more renewable energy, more jobs and fewer emissions”.