Introduction
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A reduced zone was declared at the end of August 2024; the declared zone will be a minimum of 30km from the coast and will be about half the area of the original proposal, see Windfarm progress, below. The reduced area was said to be big enough for 11.4GW of wind farm capacity.
I believe it is entirely in federally controlled waters. The question arrises: is this due to frustration in the federal government over the go-slow on renewables attitude of the WA government?
The information on the zone proposal can be read on the DCCEEW site. The departmental page on the declared zone is Indian Ocean off the Bunbury region, Western Australia declared offshore wind area.
What impact will the zone have on the region if the wind farms are built?
I have written on possible environmental impacts that the wind farms, if built in the zone, may have on another page on this site.If the zone is approved and developed it will:
- Provide hundreds or thousands of well paid jobs to the local people over the many years of construction and over the many more years of operation;
- Provide business to local accommodation providers, restaurants, hotels, etcetera;
Abating greenhouse gasses - calculation
100,000 tonnes per day of abatement is a huge amount. I could well understand people reacting skeptically to that claim. I was sufficiently concerned to double check. My calculations follow.11GW = 11,000 MW (megawatts). The capacity factor for offshore wind farms is just over 40%. So 11,000 × 0.4 × 24 = 105,600 MWh (megawatt hours) per day. One MWh of power from a coal-fired power station results in at least one tonne of carbon dioxide going into the atmosphere. For gas fired power stations the emissions are a little less. So for round figures 100,000 tonnes for coal, 65,000 tonnes for gas.
- Provide work for local contractors;
- If the full 11GW (gigawatts) of wind farms are built and the electricity displaces coal-fired generation about 100,000 tonnes of greenhouse gasses will be abated every day, if it displaces gas fired generation the figure will be about 65,000 tonnes per day;
- Probably have a life of 20 years or more, contrary to the Liberal MP for Forest Nola Marino's misleading statements;
- Not least it will give the local people a progressive climate change action feature that they can all be proud of.
Contrary to dishonest claims made by the less scrupulous opponents:
- It will not adversely impact the coastal lifestyle of the local people (it is, after all, 30km and more off the coast);
- It will not impact the use of beaches;
- It will not impact recreational fishing;
- It will not cause higher power bills, if anything it will cause lower power bills. Wind power is one of the cheapest forms of electrical generation. (Nuclear energy is by far the most expensive for of electricity generation. It makes no sense for Australia.)
Other concerns
A reef
I have heard a concern that the wind farms, if constructed, will adversely impact "the reef" without any further information being given.I was only able to find a little information about two reefs in the general area:
- Naturaliste Reef is an area of shallow water 25 nautical miles (46 kilometres) due west of Bunbury. One reference stated that there is "good fishing there, but nothing to see or do other than fishing". A nautical chart indicated that it occupies perhaps one percent of the originally proposed offshore Windfarm zone. I was not able to find any further useful information about Naturaliste Reef. As mentioned in my update on progress on the wind farm zone, Naturaliste Reef has been excluded from the approved zone.
- There is an artificial reef made of concrete blocks 6.5 kilometres north west of Bunbury Marina. (A page on a site called MadMackie was more informative than anything else that I found.) As the closest wind turbines will be 20km from the coast I can't see that there is likely to be any adverse impact on the artificial reef.
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Mr Hastie's attack on the proposal
At the time of writing, March 2024, Andrew Hastie was the federal member of parliament (MHR) for Canning, which covers the northern part of the coastal area near the proposed wind farm zone.I have written at some length about Mr Hastie's misleading attack on the proposed offshore wind farm zone on my Wind Power Lies page where Mr Hastie was awarded the lie of the month entry for February 2024. I also wrote a page about Mr Hastie's dishonesty and on another page I suggested a search for an honest, progressive Community Independent candidate to take the seat of Canning from Mr Hastie.
Community Independents have taken seats in the Australian federal parliament from several other disreputable politicians at the last federal election. With any luck we'll see more unethical MPs, like Mr Hastie, loose their seats in the next federal election. The number of honest, community minded, climate change aware, independent politicians that were elected in the 2022 federal election seems to me the most optimistic event in Australian politics for many years. I will do what little I can to support the movement.
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Nola Marino, MHR for Forest
At the time of writing, March 2024, Nola Marino was the federal member of parliament (MHR, Member of the House of Representatives) for Forest, which covers the southern part of the coastal area near the proposed wind farm zone. Ms Marino and Mr Hastie have neighbouring electorates, both are Liberals.Ms Marino has been less blatantly opposed to the offshore wind farm zone and less dishonest than her parliamentary neighbour to the north. But she does show some propensity to dishonestly depreciate the value of wind power.
In October 2022 Ms Marino made a speech in Parliament in which she said, three times, words to the effect that "the life span of wind turbines ranges from 10 to 15 to around 20 years".
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So at ages of 21 to 24 years, Australia's oldest wind farms are still running. Did Ms Marino understate the lifespan of wind turbines intentionally, or was is just carelessness? Did she pull the figures out of a hat? I can't imagine where she would have obtained turbine life span figures that were so wrong.
I've made Ms Marino's very misleading claim about the life span of wind turbines the Lie of the month for October 2022. Also see life expectancy of a wind turbine and expected lifetime of offshore wind turbines.
I'd have to wonder, are all federal Liberal MPs expected to tell at least a few lies about renewable energy if they are to continue receiving funding from the fossil fuel industries?
Update, October 2024
Energy Source and Distribution carried an article about the decommissioning of a 37 year old wind turbine. The article was headlined "Australia’s oldest wind turbine to be decommissioned" and covered the preparation to decommission the Black Rock Wind Turbine which was installed in 1987. It again showed how misleading Ms Marino's speech was.
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Progress toward developing the offshore wind farms
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For more information on the declared offshore wind farm zone see the Minister's media release and the details of the declared zone.
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Minister Bowen's press release about the declaration of the offshore wind zone stated:
"The application period for feasibility licences in the declared Bunbury offshore wind zone opens 3 September and closes on 6 November 2024.The last paragraph above seems to be an understatement. I would expect that the capacity factor for offshore wind farms in this area would be at least 40%, so if 11.4GW of turbines are built they would likely generate an average of at least 4.6GW. As recorded in Open NEM average electrical generation on the SWIS (South West Interconnected System) is around 2-2.5GW.Licences will only be awarded to developers whose proposed projects do the most to incorporate Australian materials and manufacturing, consult with local industry, protect the environment, share the marine space and provide benefits to workers, businesses and communities.
Construction can only begin after the feasibility stage is completed and developers have gained subsequent environmental and management plan approvals.
The Bunbury offshore wind industry has the potential to support 11.4 GW of electricity, enough to power all the homes and manufacturing industries in the South West."
I intend to add to this page as things develop further.