Sydney-based Nexsphere, formerly known as Brookvale Energy, has revealed plans to build an offshore wind farm in Bass Strait off Tasmania with a capacity of between 500 MW and 1,000 MW.
The project is planned to be built in phases which would come online from 2026 onwards.
The Tasmanian Liberal Government has welcomed the announcement by Nexsphere.
Tasmania is already generating 100 per cent of its electricity needs from renewables and has legislated to raise it to 200 per cent by 2040.
Bass Strait has been identified as one of the top options for offshore wind energy generation in the country by the national Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre, the Tasmanian government said.
These projects also complement Project Marinus, Battery of the Nation, and the country’s plans to supply renewable energy for an emerging green hydrogen industry to be based out of the Bell Bay Advanced Manufacturing Zone.
Offshore wind as a renewable energy source is booming globally and the International Energy Agency views offshore wind as one of the big three sources of clean energy alongside solar and onshore wind, the government said.
Bass Strait was found to have consistently higher and stronger winds at points both 50 and 100 kilometres offshore than the other locations and second only to Portland in Victoria for a 25 kilometre offshore-based location.
As part of the Tasmanian Renewable Energy Action Plan, the government has identified Tasmania’s ocean, tidal, and offshore energy resources as a key direction towards delivering a fully self-sufficient, fully-green energy supply that can feed into the broader national energy network to generate significant economic returns for the state.
Tasmania’s world-class offshore wind resource can play a key role providing the nation with the clean energy it needs as well as developing a new offshore industry with the potential to create hundreds of jobs, the government said.