Australia Eyeing Offshore Wind

Australia is to look into offshore wind power said Environment Minister Greg Hunt earlier this week at Bloomberg New Energy Finance conference in Shanghai.

“We will try to facilitate offshore wind. There are some significant opportunities that are close to the electricity backbone and I think there are likely to be some major international financing and investment opportunities on a grand scale,” Bloomberg quotes Hunt as saying.

This is a major change in the government’s standpoint, as the previous government, led by Tony Abbott, opposed wind energy, Bloomberg writes.

Out of almost 4GW of installed wind energy capacity, Australia does not have any turbines installed off its coast.

Hunt added: “So long as it produces reliable electricity, that the regulator believes is high quality, then that’s all that matters to us.”

Offshore WIND Staff; Image: Greg Hunt MP/facebook