Australia’s Offshore Infrastructure Regulator (OIR) has approved Blue Mackerel North Pty Ltd’s feasibility stage management plan for the Blue Mackerel offshore wind farm off the coast of Gippsland, Victoria.
This is the first offshore wind project in Australia to secure such approval under the Offshore Electricity Infrastructure Act 2021 and the Offshore Electricity Infrastructure Amendment Regulations 2024, according to the company.
The approval allows Blue Mackerel to begin feasibility activities, including metocean and geotechnical investigations to assess the potential for harnessing renewable energy.
The management plan is a legally binding document detailing how activities will be carried out under an Offshore Electricity Infrastructure Act (OEI Act) licence.
Once approved, the licence holder is required to submit a summary of the management plan to the OIR within 30 days.
According to Blue Mackerele’s recent social media post, the geotechnical survey vessel Fugro Mariner is gearing up for detailed seabed investigations, which are planned to commence in early March.
The company also said it will launch a Floating Light Detection and Ranging (FLiDAR) system to gather essential data on wind, waves, currents, and tides over the next 2-3 years.
In April 2024, the Australian government awarded the Blue Mackerel project, being developed by Parkwind, a seven-year feasibility licence for a 163-square-kilometre area.
Subject to approvals, the offshore wind project would deliver its planned capacity of 1 GW of renewable energy by 2032, which is enough to provide over half a million Victorian homes with green power.
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