Floating wind pioneer BlueFloat says Australia enthusiasm undimmed by Hunter 'disappointment'

The award of a feasibility licence for a proposed 2GW floating wind project off New South Wales underlines the critical importance that offshore wind will play in Australia's energy transition and will encourage rather than deter new bids, according to one of the companies that missed out.

The project proposes to deploy turbines in deep waters 20km off the city of Newcastle.

Other prospective developers included a consortium made up of Spark Renewables, Simply Blue Group and Subsea7, offering its 2GW Sea Fern Floating Offshore Wind project.

French nuclear giant EDF reportedly put forward the giant Newcastle Offshore Wind project, with its potential for as much as 10GW.

In the case of BlueFloat Energy, whose Eastern Rise Offshore Wind Project proposed an installed capacity of 1.725GW, CEO Carlos Martin said: "Although only one feasibility licence is being proposed (for the Hunter region of New South Wales) in the current feasibility licence round, we remain confident that there is room for more floating wind developments in this part of the country going forward.

"New South Wales would require the deployment of floating wind technology at scale to contribute towards decarbonisation and energy security objectives at the state and federal level and as one of the global leaders in floating wind, we look forward to working with the Australian and New South Wales governments in the future on unlocking the full potential of this technology in the country."

Martin stressed that offshore wind is well set to become a critical part of the renewable energy system in Australia as the country looks to transition away from fossil fuels.

"We look forward to contributing to this energy transition process through the deployment of our Gippsland Dawn project, a 2.1GW bottom-fixed project 100% owned by BlueFloat Energy which has recently been offered a Feasibility Licence in the Gippsland area of Victoria," he stated.

The Australian federal government recently awarded maiden feasibility licences in the declared Gippsland areas.

Six projects, totalling 12GW in capacity, were awarded licenses with immediate effect, meaning they can begin conducting detailed metocean and wind measurement feasibility studies.

Gippsland Dawn was one of six more that were awarded on a preliminary basis, subject to further consultations with First Nations Groups.

In the new bid, BlueFloat's application for the Hunter area was submitted in conjunction with local partner Origin Energy.

"We are obviously disappointed having prepared a strong application with our Australian partner, Origin, for what was clearly a very competitive process in the Hunter. However, at BlueFloat Energy we remain committed to Australia which with the Gippsland Dawn feasibility license is already one of our key priority countries worldwide.

Australia's federal energy minister Chris Bowen said on Thursday that a total of eight applications were made for the feasibility licence on what is likely to be Auistralia's first commercial scale floating wind project.