The first serious proposal for an Australian offshore windfarm will see up to 250 turbines built within a 574 square kilometre area off the coast of Gippsland in eastern Victoria if approved.

Offshore Energy has been working with the federal government to get the rights to investigate the feasibility of constructing the project, including planning and environmental studies.

The plan was unveiled at a Victorian government new energy technology roundtable on Friday, and Offshore Energy’s managing director, Andy Evans, said preliminary planning and environmental studies had been carried out.

Under the proposal, the windfarm would generate about 12,000 jobs during the construction phase and 300 ongoing jobs; have a total capacity of at least 2,000MW; and provide about 18% of Victoria’s power usage, or enough to power 1.2m homes.

It would also reduce carbon emissions by about 10.5m tonnes a year, the proposal states.

Evans emphasised that the project, called “Star of the South,” was in its early stages. But if given the go-ahead it would deliver a high, consistent flow of electricity.

“Even on current cost, offshore wind provides a new and exciting option for Australia’s energy capacity and security,” he said. “We expect technology and installation costs to continue to come down.”

Offshore Energy is in advanced discussions with local and international investors with experience in offshore wind development and investment in large-scale energy and infrastructure projects, he said.

The Victorian government has backed the proposal, saying it hoped the windfarm could be generating power in time to contribute to the state government’s renewable energy target of 40% by 2025.

The state’s energy minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, said a renewable power generator of the size proposed would drive down electricity prices, and that the government would support Offshore Energy wherever it could to progress feasibility studies.

“Offshore wind would add to Victoria’s system capacity and security as Australia transitions to a more diverse energy mix,” she said,

It had previously been thought that Australia’s continental shelf was too steep for the economics of offshore windfarms to be feasible, the chief executive of Environment Victoria, Mark Wakeham, said.

“The fact that a company is now investing in trials and studies for a 2,000MW windfarm shows how much the economics has changed with cheaper, larger wind turbines making wind power a more affordable energy source than new gas or coal-burning power stations,” he said.



“This is an exciting proposal, though one that will need to demonstrate it does not impact on marine life and brings benefits to the region.”

He said the potential the windfarm offered for jobs and affordable energy revealed why the US president, Donald Trump, was “shooting himself and his country in the foot” by proposing to withdraw from the Paris agreement.

“Donald Trump, as deluded as he is, cannot stop the physics of catastrophic climate change, and cannot change the economics which is now seeing fossil fuel power stations replaced with renewable energy around the world,” Wakeham said.



The leader of the Victorian Greens, Greg Barber, also welcomed the windfarm proposal, saying it would displace high-polluting brown coal generators from Victoria’s electricity grid.



“Coal is dying out quickly as clean energy takes over,” Barber said.



“The clock is already ticking for Yallourn [power station], and every new wind turbine built will hasten its closure.



“The government needs to come up with a plan to manage the closure of Victoria’s remaining brown coal plants.”





