Unlocking benefits of offshore wind farms
Offshore wind energy could have an economic impact as large as the current oil and gas sector by 2050, an industry funded study has predicted.
It found an offshore wind energy industry could have a critical role in helping New Zealand meet net zero targets, while contributing nearly $50 billion to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and creating 10,000 jobs.
But it cautioned a significant amount of infrastructure upgrades were needed to facilitate the industry, with a commitment to massive multi-million dollar port upgrades needing to come before wind farm developers could commit to their own projects.
The national offshore wind energy industry impacts study was released on Wednesday at the two-day Offshore Renewable Energy Forum in Hāwera.
The study was commissioned by number of energy sector participants, infrastructure providers and economic development agencies and undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
Study funders included BlueFloat Energy and Elemental Group, Transpower, Te Puna Umanga Venture Taranaki, Port Taranaki, PowerCo, the NZ Wind Energy Association. Sumitomo Corporation and Transpower.
At least four companies have announced plans to build offshore windfarms off the South Taranaki coast, and there were presentations from six developers at the forum.
These include partnership study funders Bluefloat Energy and Taranaki-based Elemental Group, who have proposed a 900 MW, 65 fixed turbine project in the South Taranaki Bight.
Other projects have been announced by
the Taranaki Offshore Partnership, a joint venture between green energy investor Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners
and the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, a joint venture between Meridian Energy and Belgium company Parkwind, and Wind Quarry Zealandia.
Japanese corporation Sumitomo is also assessing a possible offshore wind project.
One of its key “messages” of the study was the industry, which does not yet exist in New Zealand, could generate between $12b and $94b of GDP over the life of the projects, half of which would be concentrated during the construction phase and the rest during operations.
It also predicted a wide range of skilled jobs of between 5000 and 30,000 could be created by offshore wind projects at the peak of the construction phase, and the skills of the existing oil and gas workforce had “synergies” with the sector.
In the executive summary of the 90-page study, it is noted the analysis was necessarily “conceptual and broad ranging given offshore wind is developing globally and remains untested in New Zealand.”
The study highlighted that offshore wind could be a key factor in decreasing the country’s reliance on fossil fuels and contribute to a 26% reduction in energy emissions by 2050.
Some of the benefits included the relatively consistent generation of offshore wind farms, the fact there was more wind in winter when more energy was needed and the flexibility to choose sites close to electricity demand.
However it also highlighted the significant amount of infrastructure that needed to be developed to support the industry, including port and transmission grid upgrades, along with hydrogen infrastructure.
It said Port Taranaki would play a key strategic role in the construction and servicing of wind farms off the west coast of the North Island, alongside South Port for the Southland farms.
In addition, Picton, Northport, Centreport and Pātea could also have support roles.
In September, Port Taranaki boss Simon Craddock said a study had found possible upgrades to facilitate the industry included levelling and surfacing areas for storage, strengthening wharves to accommodate heavy turbine components, and reclaiming land to enable more area for berthside laydown, assembly and loadout of components.
He said preliminary costings estimated upgrades could range in cost from $165 million