The energy market operator’s 30-year road map did not factor in offshore wind projects, but the industry says it can help replace the crumbling coal fleet.
Major renewable energy investors say Australia’s nascent offshore wind power industry has been overlooked in planning to date for the transition away from ageing coal-fired power stations and to replace jobs lost in the regions.
In its official 30-year road map released on Thursday, AEMO said it expected 60 per cent of the eastern seaboard’s coal fleet to exit the electricity grid by 2030 while the last remaining plant would shut by 2042. “You see many thousands of people employed in the development and construction workforce, but it’s also a very strong ongoing employer, delivering hundreds of jobs there – similar to what you would see for the workforce for an offshore oil or gas platform,” Corbell said.Another potential positive for the industry is that projects will be developed in Commonwealth waters, more than five kilometres out to sea.
Star of the South acting chief executive Erin Coldham highlighted offshore wind projects’ enhanced social licence as a benefit AEMO had not factored into its modelling.