Oil major Equinor locks-in oars with Oceanex for gigascale offshore wind trio off Australia

Norwegian energy giant Equinor has teamed up with Antipodean offshore wind pacesetter Oceanex to advance three lead-off gigascale projects in Australia.

The pair are targeting submission of licence applications to build the Novocastrian, Illawarra and Eden arrays on acreage in the Hunter Valley, Illawarra and South Coast regions off New South Wales.

“The government has signalled a strong desire to develop an offshore wind market in Australia with new legislation and an emerging regulatory framework coming into effect recently,” said Equinor and Oceanex in a statement.

“The collaboration will combine Oceanex’s local knowledge and experience gained over the last decade with Equinor’s experience and pioneering role in the development of offshore wind.

Lars Johannes Nordli, Equinor’s vice president for renewables business development in Asia & Pacific said: “Assessing renewable opportunities in Australia supports our strategy as a global offshore wind major to build scale in core areas and secure growth options in attractive new markets early.”

“Our optimism is heightened by detailed stakeholder engagement, strong industrial bases, especially in the Hunter and the Illawarra, and our high-level environmental studies and grid studies which support large new infrastructure uptake and [government] policies.”

The two companies plan to co-invest in “entities to explore these opportunities”, with the transaction expected to complete in Q4.

Green Giraffe advised Oceanex Energy on the tie-up with Equinor.