Simply Blue Group, Subsea 7, and Australian developer Spark Renewables have formed a consortium to pursue floating offshore wind development off the coast of New South Wales (NSW), Australia, in the Hunter and Illawarra regions.
The recently declared Hunter-Central Coast and Illawarra Renewable Energy Zones offer good opportunities to support the development of floating wind alongside the potential future Commonwealth offshore wind zones, including the proposed Hunter offshore wind area, said the consortium.
“With a long coastline and stable continental shelf, we see huge potential for offshore floating wind projects off New South Wales. The State Government of New South Wales has announced key Renewable Energy Zones making it clear that it’s committed to a diverse, affordable, modern energy system, with wind energy firmly in the mix”, said Sam Roch-Perks , Group CEO, Simply Blue Group.
The consortium has come together because it brings complementary expertise from world-leading companies, ensuring the deliverability of the projects proposed, according to the partners.
Australia’s emerging offshore wind industry provides a potential pathway for the thousands of jobs expected to transition from existing industries into renewable energy.
“The consortium will investigate the suitability of areas for developing an offshore wind farm within the proposed Hunter offshore area and the foreshadowed Illawarra offshore area. Community-wide and stakeholder-specific consultation with ecological agencies, Traditional Owners, Australian maritime, aviation and defence must inform any site identification process before we proceed to determining specific projects”, said Anthony Marriner , Head of Spark Renewables.
Spark Renewables is one of Australia’s leading developers and long-term owners of renewable energy generation assets. It has a large and diversified portfolio of operational and development-stage wind, solar, and storage assets across Australia, with announced projects in New South Wales and South Australia.
Simply Blue Group is an early-stage developer of floating offshore wind. The company currently has a pipeline of 10 GW of projects in Ireland, the UK, Europe, and America.
With a local presence in Perth Australia, Subsea7 is a global leader in the delivery of offshore projects and services for the energy industry.
The company has already partnered with Simply Blue Group on the Salamander floating offshore wind project in Scotland.