Australia Approves Twelve Offshore Wind Projects, Set to Generate 25 GW Capacity

1.5 GW Navigator North Offshore Wind Project Secures Feasibility Licence Navigator North is a joint venture between Australia’s Origin Energy and the renewable energy company RES.

The project is approximately 34 kilometres from shore and covers an area of 700 square kilometres. Navigator North has the potential to deliver 1.5 GW of installed capacity, create an estimated 1,400 new jobs during the design and construction phase, and a further 60 jobs over the project’s 30-year operational life, said Origin.

“Together, we will look to develop a competitive wind project that we believe could provide material renewable supply to the energy market. We will place local communities and workforces at the heart of any potential Navigator North development and future operations,” said Greg Jarvis , Origin’s head of energy supply and operations.

The 2.5 GW Great Eastern Offshore Wind project is located approximately 22 kilometres off the central Gippsland coast to the east of Wilsons Promontory.

The fixed-bottom wind farm has recently achieved a milestone by completing 17 months of a 24-month marine environmental baseline survey programme to inform the project development, said Corio.

Great Eastern is expected to be operational in 2032 to meet Victorian state targets and the project will then be operational for 30-plus years, according to its developer.

Other projects that reached this stage are being developed by Iberdrola Australia OW 2 (Aurora Green), and Ørsted Offshore Australia 1 (the Gippsland 02 project).

The government opened a window for applications for feasibility licences within the Gippsland area on 23 January 2023. The application period closed in April last year with 37 feasibility licence applications received, after which the government began the review process.

For the remaining 25 applications, a preliminary decision was made to not proceed to grant a feasibility licence on the basis that they are not as meritorious as overlapping applications, Australia’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) said in December 2023 .

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