South West becomes a spot for offshore wind farms as State embraces major projects across its coastlines

WA’s coasts could host hundreds of wind turbines after the Federal Government endorsed a bill allowing the development of offshore wind farms and the South West is proving to be a spot for the eco-friendly electricity alternative. New to the offshore wind industry, the Federal Government only last year passed the Offshore Electricity Infrastructure Bill allowing the facilitation and regulation of electricity infrastructure in Commonwealth waters. Following the Bill’s approval, a slew of offshore wind farm projects are now taking shape across the country with five in WA. Now a seemingly top spot for turbine-based power, the South West claims the lion’s share of the States eco-friendly energy initiatives with the region’s most recent Copenhagen Energy project claiming top of the podium for production output. Plans for a massive 3 gigawatt off-shore wind farm stretching between Mandurah and Bunbury were submitted to the Federal Government earlier this month by Danish firm Copenhagen Energy, and are the latest in numerous project proposals for the South West. Though it is still very much early days for the Leeuwin Offshore Wind Farm project, once operational the 200-proposed wind turbines will produce in excess of 3 gigawatts of electricity — up to 11 terawatt-hour of power per year. This would equate to enough electricity to power about 3 million WA homes and offset an expected 6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, according to the projects Act Proposal. “This will support Australia’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 26-28 per cent by 2030, as well as the Western Australian Government’s target of enhanced climate resilience and net zero greenhouse gas emission by 2050,” the proposal stated. Acknowledging the project’s infancy the proposal details possible changes to technical feasibility as well as commercial viability and claims it will take into account environmental and social impact assessments. “The proposed action is in the early development stage, and therefore many of the detailed design parameters are yet to be determined,” documents stated. According to Copenhagen Energy the project would be rolled out in phases over a 36-month period from 2026 to 2028, with electricity to be brought on-shore within the Shire of Harvey via export cables. Minister for Environment Sussan Ley opened the project to public comment at the beginning of March for 10 days — now closed since March 16 — allowing the public to deem the proposal a controlled action under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. Only 12 decisions have not been approved under the Act, and subsequently, most approved proposals come with stringent ramifications as the Act sets out to legally protect and manage nationally and internationally important environmental commodities. But this proposal is not one of a kind. Myalup and Bunbury could also see developments of 300 and 2000 megawatt wind farms respectively. Energy company Oceanex launched three feasibility studies across Australia one of which included a 2000 megawatt Bunbury-based wind farm, with construction expected to start in 2033. Another Mylaup wind farm proposed by Australis Energy was submitted for environmental approval last year and would host around 30 wind turbines just 5.5km off the aligning coast. Further north Flotation Energy’s 500MW wind farm 50km south of Rottnest will host around 50 turbines and a joint venture between Pilot Energy and Triangle Energy could see the creation of a 1.1 megawatt off-shore wind project near Cliff Head. Offshore project proposals are begging to prop up across the nation with Victoria earlier this month announcing an ambitious wind energy target of 2 gigawatts by 2030 and 9 gigawatts by 2040.