Australia approves legislation for offshore wind deployment

The Australian parliament on Thursday passed legislation to support the development of the country’s offshore energy industry by giving a major focus on offshore wind generation and power transmission.

The package of three bills has passed in the Senate, the energy ministry announced. The specific legislation sets up a regulatory framework for construction, operation and decommissioning of offshore electricity infrastructure in the Commonwealth offshore area.

“The Morrison Government’s offshore electricity infrastructure package will unlock development of a new industry that will create thousands of skilled regional jobs, strengthen our economy, and support a more affordable and secure energy system,” said energy minister Angus Taylor.

The newly-adopted regulations are expected to speed up projects that are already under development, including the Marinus Link transmission line between the mainland and Tasmania’s Battery of the Nation project, the Star of the South wind farm off the coast of Gippsland, Victoria, and Sun Cable, which is intended to export renewable energy from Australia to Singapore. Those three schemes represent an investment of over AUD 10 billion (USD 7.26bn/EUR 6.44bn).

Earlier this week, the government of Victoria pledged to award AUD 40 million to fund three offshore wind projects off the state's coastline, which will bring 4.7 GW of wind turbine generation. Almost half of the financing will go for the 2.2-GW Star of the South scheme.

(AUD 1.0 = USD 0.726/EUR 0.645)

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