Elemental Group
BlueFloat Energy and Elemental Group are scoping out potenial sites for an offshore windfarm in Southland. (File photo)
Southland’s prevailing southerly winds are driving the development of several wind farms in the province – and the potential to take the turbines offshore is now being looked at.
The business partnership that announced plans to build wind farms off the coast of Taranaki and Waikato is scoping out potential sites in Southland, but any plans for the farm are not likely to be known until next year.
BlueFloat Energy, a global developer of offshore wind, is exploring development opportunities for offshore wind at sites across New Zealand and Australia.
It has partnered with Elemental Group in New Zealand, and they have announced two projects – South Taranaki Offshore Wind and Waikato Offshore Wind.
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South Taranaki Offshore Wind
The companies behind a proposal to build a wind farm offshore from Raglan supplied this video, which outlines their vision.
In November, it announced its first $4 billion, 65-turbine offshore wind farm will be built 22km off the coast of South Taranaki by the end of the decade. The turbines, fixed to the sea floor, will generate 900 megawatts (MW) of electricity – enough to power nearly 440,000 homes.
Offshore Wind communications manager Bianca Ruakere said the companies were currently progressing some of the baseline studies they needed to complete to evaluate the feasibility of the project in Southland.
“This includes a desktop environmental study to help inform potential site locations. We expect this study to be finished in June,’’ she said.
Representatives of the partnership were in Southland last week.
Partnerships director Justine Gilliland, iwi liaison lead Toko Kapea and BlueFloat energy senior development advisor for APAC Jarek Pole met with iwi and hapu leaders, local government, unions, the Southland Chamber of Commerce and presented to a Great South organised event about offshore wind energy and social procurement.
Elemental Group
Offshore wind turbines similar to these could generate electricity from Southland’s copious wind. (File photo)
“We are also progressing the site assessment mahi – this includes receiving early feedback on potential locations,’’ she said.
”We believe that by around mid 2023 we will know whether Southland presents a good opportunity for the region, our stakeholders and us as developers.’
Southland Chamber of Commerce chief executive Sheree Carey and Invercargill mayor Nobby Clark were unavailable for comment about the project.
Construction on Mercury Energy’s $115 million Kaiwera wind farm near Gore started late last year and in December, Southern Generation announced plans to construct a wind farm on Jericho Station at Blackmount.
