Bass Strait has been named as one of the top options for offshore wind energy generation in the country by the national Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre (CRC).
Already the proposed Brookvale project would see offshore wind farms located at either end of Bass Strait, generating 2GW of clean energy, with the location topping the list of assessed locations for strength and consistency of wind power.
Bass Strait was found to have consistently higher and stronger winds at points both 50 and 100km offshore than the other locations and second only to Portland in Victoria for a 25km offshore based location.
Offshore wind as a renewable energy source is booming globally and the International Energy Agency views offshore wind as one of the big three sources of clean energy alongside solar and onshore wind.
Importantly, the Blue Economy CRC report also highlights the potential of offshore wind as a source of renewable energy to produce green hydrogen which would feed into our emerging clean hydrogen industry to be based largely out of the Bell Bay Advanced Manufacturing Zone.
As part of the Tasmanian Renewable Energy Action Plan we have identified Tasmania’s ocean, tidal, and offshore energy resources as a key direction towards delivering a fully self-sufficient, fully-green energy supply that can feed into the broader national energy network to generate significant economic returns for our State.
Tasmania is already leading the nation by being 100 per cent powered by renewable energy and we have legislated to be at a world-leading 200 per cent by 2040.
Tasmania’s world class offshore wind resource can play a key role providing the nation with the clean energy it needs as well as developing a new offshore industry with the potential to create hundreds of jobs.
The Blue Economy CRC Offshore Wind Energy in Australia report is available at blueeconomycrc.com.au