Opponents of the newly declared Illawarra offshore wind zone have vowed to maintain their opposition despite Energy Minister Chris Bowen’s announcement on Saturday morning that the enormous scheme would go ahead, smaller and further from shore than earlier proposed.
Alex O’Brien of the community action group Responsible Future said the organisation was not reassured by Bowen’s decision that the zone would be shrunk by a third to 1022 square kilometres of the Pacific Ocean, from Wombarra in the north to Kiama in the south, and pushed to 20 kilometres offshore rather than 10.
Offshore wind has a big head start in northern Europe but is in its infancy in Australia.Credit:
Making the announcement at BlueScope Steel, Bowen said he had listened to concerns about the potential visual impact of turbines that could tower 260 metres above the water. “At 20 kilometres offshore, you won’t see those turbines on most days,” he said.
In its new form, the zone could produce just under 3 gigawatts of power, or enough energy to provide power to 1.8 million homes once developed, Bowen said.
He said developers could begin the process of making licence applications from Monday.
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“Today is important, but in many ways, it is the beginning. These licence applications will involve community consultation, there will need to be environmental approvals for every particular project,” he said.
He said the successful projects would also need to demonstrate that First Nations views had been taken into account and how the project would benefit the community.
“So we are not going to see wind turbines next week, next month or next year, there is a long way to go.”