South West wind farm feasibility licence application deadline extended by a month following industry request

Companies wanting to build offshore wind farms on the South West coastline will have an extra month to submit their feasibility licence applications following an extension of the deadline to December. Despite the Federal Government’s announcement of the original deadline being made just last month with a November 6 cutoff, the final day for applications has now been pushed back to December 3. It is understood the move was made following requests from the industry. The feasibility licences last for seven years and allow the licence holders to take the next steps in progressing their proposed projects. Climate Change, Energy and Environment Minister Chris Bowen declined to comment on the updated timeline but said last month the feasibility licence application stage was important to picking the right projects. “Those feasibility licence applications will need to show me not just that they can create energy, but they will create jobs and economic opportunity for this region,” he said. “That they’ll have local content plans, that they’ll have good labour standards and they’ll have good plans to make sure that the region which hosts offshore energy benefits from offshore energy. “The best bids on those criteria will win approval to proceed.” Mr Bowen visited the South West in September to announce the revised 4000sqkm zone, sitting at around slightly more than half the size of the original declared area. The zone will be in two halves to allow for a shipping trade route and will sit 30km off Cape Naturaliste, 42km from Bunbury and 37km from Myalup. A number of companies have revealed their desire to build in the region if given the opportunity, including Copenhagen Energy and Oceanex Energy. Following the September announcement, Oceanex chair Andy Evans described the zone’s declaration as a positive step. “I think the Government has taken into consideration a lot of the comments and submissions that have been made, listened to their views, positive or negative, but also given developers enough to work with to make the area a real success,” he said.