The Ministry for Climate Change and Energy of Australia has opened a consultation on a new offshore wind zone in the Pacific Ocean located 10 km off the town of Newcastle, in the state of New South Wales, which has the potential to create up to 8 GW of offshore wind power. The Hunter-Central Coast Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) spans a 5,000 km2 area and is one of six priority REZ regions across Australia.
The Hunter-Central Coast REZ has reportedly already attracted commercial interest in renewable generation and storage projects representing 40 GW and more than AUD100bn (US$67bn) of potential investment, including seven offshore wind projects.
At the end of 2021, wind power accounted for 11% of Australia’s installed capacity with 9 GW and 9% of its power generation with 24.5 TWh. However, the country had no offshore wind capacity as of end-2021. Australia currently has nearly 4 GW of wind capacity under construction and more than 137 GW under development.