The government of Australia has designated another offshore wind area, this time in the Indian Ocean near Bunbury, Western Australia. The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment, and Water said the declared area between Cape Naturaliste and Dawesville has the potential to generate up to 11.4GW of renewable wind energy. However, the zone is not nearly what it was supposed to be. Firstly, it is roughly half the size of the initial proposal and stands at about 4,000 sq km. Over 60 per cent of the area, including the popular Naturaliste Reef, was excluded at the request of recreational fishing groups. The zone would also be further from shore than the original proposal, sitting some 41 km from Bunbury and 55 km from Busselton. Four areas have already been designated as offshore wind zones, namely Gippsland and Southern Ocean in Victoria, and Hunter and Illawarra in New South Wales. According to the department, offshore wind projects can’t be built yet but the interested companies can apply for feasibility licences between September 3 and November 6. The designation of this zone is important to Australia as the South West Interconnected System is predicted to need 50GW more electricity by 2042. “[This] will be made easier by offshore wind. One turn of one turbine creates as much energy as solar panels on your roof all day. And the turbine can turn around 15 times a minute. So it is a lot of energy for Western Australia,” said Australia’s energy minister Chris Bowen. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1_95_0_1_2'); }); TagsAustralia Offshore Wind