Offshore wind industry study is under way
A large-scale offshore wind farm could bring 2000 jobs to Taranaki while it is being constructed, developers predict.
A study into the future industry requirements needed to support development and operation of a large-scale offshore wind farm is under way, involving the government and representatives from a range of Taranaki businesses, community organisations, iwi, and councils.
The NZ Super Fund and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners are jointly exploring the opportunity to develop a 1 gigawatt (GW) wind farm off the South Taranaki Bight, which could power over 650,000 homes.
Subject to extensive community consultation, environmental considerations and commercial feasibility, the project would see about 70 wind turbines installed between 23km and 30km offshore. Initial estimates project it would create up to 2000 direct jobs during construction and about 150 direct ongoing jobs.
The study, which is being jointly funded by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, will be delivered by the joint venture’s development arm, Copenhagen Offshore Partners.
In a statement, senior business development manager Giacomo Caleffi said Taranaki was ‘‘hugely attractive’’ to offshore wind developers with its strong and consistent wind, and because the region had many of the associated infrastructure and capability requirements needed to support offshore wind projects.
New training programmes, new sectors and new skills would also need to be developed, he said.
‘‘This presents considerable opportunities for existing businesses that are considering how they might transition from extractive industries and for new businesses to spring up to service the wind farm.’’
The next stage of the study will include surveys and interviews with organisations across Taranaki and New Zealand, and will seek to map the actual and projected capabilities required for an offshore wind industry. The information and insights will be made public early next year.
The developers hope to deploy a wind measurement tool – a Floating Light Detection And Ranging device, or FLIDAR – later this year to measure wind speeds 37km off the South Taranaki coast as a first step to explore the potential for offshore wind generation there.
Last month, a separate consortium including Bluefloat Energy unveiled plans to develop four offshore wind projects – off Taranaki, Southland and Waikato – with potential to generate up to 5GW of power in total. This consortium will use a LIDAR attached to the Kupe platform off the Taranaki coast to measure the wind.