Onshore versus offshore wind: which one gets built first
Two hundred and twenty-eight turbines. That’s the figure BlueFloat Energy has floated for its Illawarra project off Wollongong, in one of the six zones declared under the Commonwealth’s offshore wind framework. It sounds enormous until you check AEMO’s connection queue and realise not one of those turbines has a firm grid agreement yet. Meanwhile, up […]
Illawarra offshore wind zone: BlueFloat’s status, minus the render
Stand on Bald Hill at Stanwell Park on a clear morning and you can see most of the Illawarra coast from Wollongong down past Kiama. You can’t yet see a single turbine out there, and depending who you ask, that’s either a relief or a missed opportunity a decade in the making. The declared zone […]
ACEN Australia: the Philippines-backed builder behind New England Solar
Drive the New England Highway south out of Uralla on a clear afternoon and you’ll see it before you see much else: rows of panels running off toward Walcha, a substation compound with more transformers than you’d expect for a paddock, and a construction camp that’s shrunk from its peak but hasn’t gone away. That’s […]
GE Vernova in Australia: turbines, warranty trouble and a thinning market
Sixty-four turbines. That was the original plan for Tilt Renewables’ Rye Park Wind Farm in southern New South Wales — and GE Vernova’s 3.x-158 platform was selected to fill all of them. The project was one of the cleaner proofs that GE could still win large Australian onshore contracts after the chaotic global restructure that […]
Offshore wind: fixed-bottom versus floating turbines
Thirty metres of water is roughly where the argument starts. Below that depth, fixed-bottom offshore wind is proven, financeable and — in European terms — almost boring. Above it, floating wind is still earning its industrial credentials. Australia’s six declared offshore wind zones straddle both worlds, and the technology choice sitting inside each development application […]
Squadron Energy: Andrew Forrest’s renewables bet, assessed
Three gigawatts. That’s roughly the combined generation capacity Squadron Energy was spruiking across its portfolio when Andrew Forrest’s private energy arm consolidated its holdings after the CWP Renewables acquisition settled in early 2023. Three years on, the gap between that headline number and what’s actually been commissioned, connected and generating into the National Electricity Market […]
The Rise of Wind Energy in Australia
Wind energy in Australia is among the most environmentally friendly and sustainable ways to generate electricity. It produces minimal greenhouse gases. Australia, which has some of the best wind conditions in the entire world, is well-positioned to take advantage of this resource. Wind energy has the potential to provide up to 40% the nation’s electrical needs. This […]
Exploring Offshore Wind Power In Australia
What is offshore wind, and what’s it worth to Australia? Offshore wind energy is a renewable form of energy that uses ocean winds to produce electricity. Wind turbines are placed in coastal waters to capture the wind’s energy. This is then converted into electricity and transmitted back to land via an undersea cable. Offshore wind is a […]