'Floating opens things up': offshore wind pioneers eye 10GW-plus off Australia and New Zealand

Development of a 10GW-plus portfolio of offshore wind farms – most of it floating and some a replacement for exiting coal power – is being explored off Australia and New Zealand by a company co-founded by executives who launched the pioneering Star of the South project.

Oceanex Energy is looking at advancing gigawatt-scale projects off the Australian states of New South Wales, Western Australia and potentially Queensland, as well as neighbouring New Zealand, under a portfolio that could underpin massive expansion of wind at sea off the two nations starting in the late 2020s and continuing throughout the 2030s.

For its part Oceanex has now secured its own investment from Green Tower, which is itself backed by Japan’s Daiwa Group, with advisory services from renewables specialist Green Giraffe.

Floating opportunity

Evans is also optimistic that the Australian Commonwealth (federal) government will in Q3 this year secure passage for its long-anticipated Offshore Clean Energy Infrastructure Bill, which will finally set a clear regulatory framework for marine renewables.

The two Oceanex projects most likely to advance first are the Newcastle and Illawara floating developments, both about 30km from shore respectively north and south of Sydney, and about 1.8GW and 2GW in scale.

Evans hopes that Newcastle and Illawarra, both of which boast major deepwater ports, will be declared offshore wind development zones after the legislation is passed later this year. That could start a development process that would move towards the first project beginning construction as soon as 2027 with completion in 2031, with the other a year behind.

The Oceanex CEO said floating wind power could smoothly plug into the grid capacity left by some 10GW of black coal capacity that New South Wales will retire over the next 14 years, as well as helping power some of the numerous huge green hydrogen projects planned in the region.

Floating wind can also play to a wider energy transition agenda, Evans added. “We believe the skillsets and the capabilities here lend themselves to floating,” adding that Australia’s fledgling offshore wind sector had seen a boom in interest from oil & gas contractors discussing future opportunities since global giants such as BP announced they were entering the industry.

“Offshore oil & gas needs to realise that offshore wind is the greatest gift that’s been presented to it,” said Evans, given the range of transferable skills and capabilities between the two.

The Australian states where Oceanex is looking at an initial 9GW of projects have policies supportive of renewables and the energy transition, Evans said.

The same is true for New Zealand, where the developer is focusing on two or three projects totalling up to 3GW particularly in the Taranaki region in the south of the nation’s North Island.

Cost reduction

Evans said floating wind power – which is slated to underpin all the projects in the current Oceanex portfolio with the exception of about 2GW off Western Australia – is on a steep cost reduction curve that will help its economics by the time the company’s first projects begin construction in the second half of the decade.

While offshore wind will inevitably face stiff competition from Australia’s plentiful onshore wind and solar resources, Evans is confident the sector will be able to make a strong case based on reliability of supply, proximity of demand and synergy with grid assets.

Australia and New Zealand also have the chance to be part of a wider pan-Asian offshore wind boom that could see the markets “fit beautifully” into regional schedules, with an installation window from September through to March.

“It’s a tremendously exciting time for offshore wind here and globally,” said Evans, who has quietly focused on laying the early ground for Oceanex’s portfolio since stepping down as Star of the South’s CEO.