Simply Blue-led consortium plans 2GW offshore wind project in Australia

A consortium including Irish developer Simply Blue Group, offshore specialists Subsea 7 and Australian renewable energy company Spark Renewables has announced plans to build a 2GW offshore wind project in the Australian Pacific Ocean. 

by Orlando Jenkinson 17 July 2023

Byron Bay, north coast of New South Wales, Australia. The Australian government claims the Hunter region south of Byron Bay can support 5GW of wind power projects (pic credit: iStock/Getty Images Plus)

The consortium, which was announced in March and has been named Sea Fern, unites all three companies in an effort to win rights to develop offshore wind energy projects in the Hunter region of New South Wales, on Australia’s Pacific coast, which was officially declared suitable for offshore wind development by the Australian government on July 12. 

A statement from the consortium said it planned to submit proposals to build up to 2GW of offshore wind energy off Hunter, NSW. 

The Australian government said on confirming the suitability of the Hunter region for offshore wind that up to 5GW of wind energy projects could be supported there, with the potential to power around 4.2 million homes. 

The government had previously targeted an even larger area in the region for offshore wind development but scaled down its proposals after consulting local stakeholders including first nations communities. 

Sea Fern said it was currently at the “inception phase” of applying for a feasibility licence under the Australian Offshore Electricity Infrastructure Act 2021 — a seven-year licence needed to pursue the necessary technical, environmental, social impact studies for the proposals. 

The consortium emphasised it would support local communities in the area, following the Australian government's claims that offshore wind energy in the Hunter region could support 1,560 ongoing roles in the industry and generate more than 3,000 construction jobs. 

Other wind energy developers, including Norwegian energy giant Equinor and offshore wind developer BlueFloat Energy are also eyeing offshore wind projects in the region.