Wind turbines at the Arklow Bank Offshore Wind
Park, located 10km off the Irish Coast

THE winds of change blow longer and stronger in WA than in any other state in Australia according to recent research to find the best site in Australia for an offshore wind farm.

As the race to reduce our carbon emissions becomes critical many scientists are tipping offshore wind energy will become the world’s most important and widely used renewable energy source.

Some have called it “the new North Sea oil”, with more than 40 offshore installations either operating or under construction throughout Europe. The London Array, which once completed will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm, will consist of 271 offshore wind turbines and produce enough electricity to power more than 750,000 homes.

The Australian study, by Professor Dong-Sheng Jeng of the University of Dublin and University of Sydney postgraduate student Yun Zheng, examined the economic and engineering feasibility of offshore wind energy generation in Australia and identified potential sites in Australia for an offshore wind farm.

Based on selection criteria including wind speed, water depth, environmental impact and development costs, WA beat four other potential Australian sites to be the most suitable to host an offshore installation.

Ms Zheng said however that although WA was particularly suitable for an installation such as the London Array, she did not expect there would be any significant interest in funding such a project in the near future.

“What makes Australia different to Europe is that there is so much space on land to build wind farms there’s no need to go offshore at this stage,” she said.

“In Europe they have to go offshore because there aren’t big expanses of land for wind farms like there is here.

“It is a lot more expensive both to build and maintain wind farms in the ocean rather than on land.”