BlueFloat, Energy Estate embark on 4.3-GW offshore wind plan in Australia

Madrid-based floating wind specialist BlueFloat Energy and Australia’s Energy Estate will partner in the development of 4.3 GW of offshore wind projects in Aussie waters, with plans to further expand the rollout next year.

BlueFloat said on Wednesday that its Aussie partnership with Energy Estate will commence with three projects – two floating offshore schemes in the New South Wales region and a bottom-fixed project off Victoria. The size of the proposed investment was not disclosed.

The partners intend to install a 1.4-GW floating wind farm off the coast south of Newcastle in the Hunter Coast region of New South Wales, while a 1.6-GW park, also utilising floating offshore wind technology, will be built off the coast from Wollongong in the same state’s Illawarra region. The third scheme, dubbed Greater Gippsland Offshore Wind Project, envisages the construction of a 1.3-GW bottom-fixed complex off the coast of the Gippsland region of Victoria.

BlueFloat and its Aussie partner said they are evaluating additional sites in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. Plans for more projects are due to be announced early in 2022.

“The timing of our announcement comes hot on the heels of Australia’s Federal Government passing legislation that provides a framework for developing offshore wind projects here,” said Nick Sankey, BlueFloat’s newly-appointed country manager in Australia.

BlueFloat's announcement comes less than a month after the Spanish firm joined forces with Energy Estate and Elemental Group to develop offshore wind farm projects in New Zealand.

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