Two offshore wind development areas have now had the final decision for granting feasibility licenses, after having been awarded preliminary approvals last year. Novocastrian has been awarded a license in the Hunter Coast area. The 2 GW floating project is developed by Equinor and OceanEx Energy. In addition, the Spinifex project has been awarded a license in the Southern Ocean area. The 1200 MW fixed project is developed by JERA Nex bp and Alinta Energy. The feasibility licenses are valid for 7 years.

BlueFloat has requested a delay to the assessment and offering of feasibility licenses for the Illawarra development area until after the May election in Australia. The applications are still under assessment, but the developer has raised concerns about investing in the project without bipartisan support from the government. Energy Minister Chris Bowne has confirmed BlueFloat is the only developer expressing interest in the area. The request for a delay has been approved by the government.

The government has also announced that the first management plan has been approved by the independent Offshore Infrastructure Regulator to Blue Mackerel North, who currently hold a feasibility license in the Gippsland area. The 1000 MW project is developed by JERA nex bp and Beach Energy and was granted a license in early 2024. The approval paves the way for their next step in assessing the commercial viability of a project, including geotechnical and metocean investigations.

Finally, The Minister of Energy has made a preliminary decision not to offer a feasibility license to the Seadragon project in the Gippsland area. The project was granted a lifeline late last year, after a court granted the projects a new review of its rejected Gippsland bid. The project was initially rejected when the proposal overlapped with a different project and was deemed to be of lower merit.

Image Credit: CIP