The Albanese government in Australia has offered Norway’s Equinor and its partner Oceanex Energy a feasibility licence for the Novocastrian Wind offshore wind project in the Hunter region.
If the feasibility for the Novocastrian Wind Pty Ltd project is proven, the developer can then apply for a commercial licence to build an offshore wind project to generate electricity commercially.
Should the project go ahead, it would employ around 3,000 workers during construction and create around 200-300 permanent local jobs. The offshore wind farm would also inject development expenditure worth hundreds of millions of dollars into the Hunter region.
The proposed offshore wind farm could generate over 2 GW of electricity, equivalent to powering 1.2 million homes.
The Offshore Infrastructure Registrar received eight feasibility licence applications across the 1,854-square-kilometre zone.
According to the government, only the Novocastrian Wind Pty Ltd project was offered authorisation for feasibility studies because other applications were for overlapping areas and were found to be of lower merit.
Consultation with First Nations groups, communities, unions, and marine users will continue throughout the feasibility licence process, while environmental studies and a detailed management plan is prepared, said the government.
“The project I’ve shortlisted offers the biggest rewards for the Hunter and Australia – supporting our workforce and energy security, protecting our environment and sharing our marine space with the people and industries who rely on it today,” said Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen .
The Hunter region is one of Australia’s four officially declared zones for offshore wind development, with the most recent zone located in the Pacific Ocean off Illawarra, New South Wales (NSW).
When it comes to Equinor and Oceanex, the companies teamed up two years ago to submit feasibility licence applications for offshore wind acreage in the Hunter Valley, Illawarra, and South Coast regions.