Pre-conditions for the Development of Offshore Wind Energy in Australia

Research Program

PROJECT LEADER

PROJECT ID

5.22.001

BECRC PARTNERS

THIRD PARTY PARTICIPANTS

Nexsphere

Flotation Energy

Southerly Ten

Tasmanian Ports Corporation

Copenhagen Energy Australia

START DATE

March 2023

END DATE

December 2025

DURATION

36 months

PROJECT IN BRIEF

BE CRC research has highlighted the potential of offshore wind in Australia’s future energy planning. With suitable sites located across all Australian states, offshore wind promises to establish Australia as an ‘energy superpower’.

In early August 2022 the Australian government announced the first six areas for offshore wind project proposals. Across four work packages, this project addresses industry needs regarding social acceptability, law and policy settings, and supply chain operations.

With the passage of recent legislation, Australia’s offshore wind energy industry is poised to grow over the coming years.

To realise the industry’s promise, and avoid costly social and legal disruptions and environmental challenges that have accompanied other offshore industries, planning and development in key knowledge areas is critical.

This project provides an opportunity for the BE CRC and industry partners to seize the opportunity provided by recent legislation to build efficacy, integrity and good governance into Australia’s burgeoning offshore wind power industry.

This project aims to:

  • Identify best practices in policy and regulatory processes applicable to offshore wind development that may be considered in the Australian policy and regulatory context.
  • Identify key elements of social acceptability for offshore wind development and assist industry in addressing an integrated integrity system approach to offshore wind projects.
  • Identify supply chain systems for the development of offshore wind industry and provide strategic direction.

The synthesis of this research will:

  • Provide resources ensuring industry practitioners wanting to build robust social support and pursue ethical best practice will be well-placed to do so, including by building engagement with community, and having clarity about the way policy and regulation can work to deliver the ethical promise of offshore wind.
  • Improve knowledge of policy and regulatory arrangements, social values and supply chain issues that apply to offshore wind energy developments in Australia.
  • Benefit end-users, including offshore wind project proponents who currently need to deal with a complex and regulatory and policy framework, policymakers tasked implementing new management arrangements as well as understanding knowledge gaps to facilitate offshore energy deployment.
  • Improve the understanding of key elements in the management of offshore wind developments will enhance new investments and, therefore, contribute to the realisation of Australia’s offshore wind energy potential.

JUNE 2025 UPDATE

Policy Guidance Note: Community Benefit Schemes: Ethics, Perceptions and Practice

Community benefit schemes can deliver important outcomes, improving fairness and compensating for impacts on local communities. But they also raise complex ethical concerns that must be addressed through strategic design, governance and implementation.

This Policy Guidance Note details what constitutes community benefit schemes, why they may be morally justified, how they can potentially function as bribes and how to ethically navigate them with eight recommended design guidelines.

“Community benefit schemes and ‘neighbour payments’ are often integrated into major development projects. Our new research examines whether these funds can function as bribes employed to overcome local resistance to renewable energy developments, and how this unwanted outcome can be avoided through strategic policy design”. Hugh Breakey, Griffith University

OCTOBER 2024 UPDATE

Practitioner Summary  ~ Ethics, values and social licence for offshore wind development report release

The practitioner summary, ‘Ethics, values and social licence for offshore wind development’ as part of the ‘Preconditions for the development of offshore wind project’ has been released. This report details the importance of place attachment and its associated values within oceanic places and for coastal communities. It summarises ethical concerns around offshore wind development and offers key points for thinking through these challenges. Additionally, it offers a First Nations perspective on ocean country and the way it impacts the blue economy along with best practice for community engagement.

As Larelle Bossi, Research Lead states:

“It is important to fully understand the relevance of social acceptance in our global, national, and regional journey towards the decarbonisation of energy systems. Our research across case studies involving renewable energy developments has consistently shown that beliefs about place (as location and meaning) play an important role in shaping community acceptance. Our ‘best practice’ offshore wind development involves the understanding of and delivering on ethical principles and values which we have identified and prioritised for policy making.” 

SEPTEMBER 2024 UPDATE

SINTEF Report Release

Offshore Wind status quo in Norway and reflections on best practices

RELATED NEWS

PROJECT PARTNERS

UTAS logo
Saitec logo
Griffith University logo
University of Queensland logo
Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment logo
Sintef logo
Universidad Austral de Chile logo
BMT logo
DNV GL logo
Go to Top