In his keynote address at the Illawarra Clean Energy Industry Roadmap launch on Wednesday, Wollongong MP Paul Scully took the chance to set the record straight about the Illawarra Renewable Energy Zone, now the state's first 'Urban REZ'.

“Some have suggested that this is a signal that we don’t support offshore wind – that’s wrong,” he said. “What we are progressing is work that can get underway right now that will complement, not compete with, any future offshore energy generation projects.”

Land versus sea confusion

Energy expert Ty Christopher, one of the authors of the roadmap, said that the Illawarra’s Urban REZ is (mostly) separate to Illawarra’s Offshore Wind Zone.

Ty, Director of the Energy Futures Network at UOW, told the Illawarra Flame that the two zones are governed by different tiers of government, in the same way that we have “state roads” and “council roads”.  The Urban REZ is a state zone, focused on small-generation assets (rooftop solar), while the Offshore Wind Zone occupies waters under federal jurisdiction and is focused on large-scale assets (think the kind that could help power a steelworks).

The time when Urban and Offshore zones shall meet lies in the final three nautical miles where one day – years from now – cables from wind turbines might come onshore and fall under the state’s environmental jurisdiction.

“The two are basically a Venn diagram that overlap at one point, and that one point is on offshore wind and the connection to it. At all other points, they operate somewhat separately,” Ty said.

Government remains committed to progress

BlueFloat Energy was the only applicant for a feasibility licence in the Illawarra offshore wind zone, which at 1,022 km² is the second smallest of Australia’s six declared areas. BlueFloat’s application has been on pause at the company’s request since February.

“The Government is committed to working with the proponents to progress an offshore wind industry that will deliver regional jobs and lasting energy security for the Illawarra,” the Member for Cunningham, Alison Byrnes, said this week.

‘Major reset’ in global renewables industry

The ripple effect of US tariffs and economic uncertainty is affecting trade around the world.

“I think that the industry globally is going through a major reset,” Ty said.

He points to the rise of a new buzzword in the investing world: “ABUSA – “It's an answer to a question, ‘Where are you going to put your capital?’ And the answer is, Anywhere But the USA.”

“What's going to happen with the zone? My observation is, I think that globally, there's a major reset of renewable capital – and indeed, capital in general – going on. What we're seeing is a lot of companies that are just stepping back and taking a breath and working out, where do they put things, where they move things.

“Within Australia, the offshore wind industry is nascent. It’s at the early stages.

“And what that means is companies, such as BlueFloat, that have other active projects down in Gippsland, I think they are reluctant to have the starting pistol fired on another project while they're still learning lessons… and their desire is to delay the start for as long as they can, so that they can learn what they can from the first project and then apply that to do a faster and better job with subsequent projects."

Ty dismisses denials of the region’s enthusiasm for clean energy as “Trumpian”. “It used to be called gaslighting,” he said.

Rather, in the offshore wind zone pause, he sees a "valuable opportunity” for the region.

“This gives us the time to do this well and do this better in terms of community consultation, in terms of environmental assessment, and in terms of really calmly stepping through a non-rushed discussion on offshore wind for the region, rather than obsessing with the sensationalist headline of conflict, and ‘is it going ahead, or is it not going ahead’, but that calm rational, let's actually lean into those cooperative conversations – the common ground, if you will, conversations for our region.”

Read more

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