Norwegian energy company Equinor has opened the world's largest floating offshore wind farm located about 140 kilometres from shore, in water between 260 and 300 metres deep.
The company, which has teamed with Australian-based Oceanex to vye for a stake in the Hunter Offshore wind project, formally opened the Hywind Tampen wind farm in Norway last week.
The project consists of 11 wind turbines and has a system capacity of 88 megawatts.
The project supplies power to the Gullfaks and Snorre oil and gas platforms in the North Sea, the first in the world to receive power from offshore wind.
It is expected the project will cover about 35 per cent of the annual need for electricity on the five platforms.
The Hywind Tampen project was completed in five years, with 60 percent of the contract values awarded to Norwegian suppliers.
This has contributed to the growth of green jobs and technology development for future floating offshore wind projects.
"Equinor is bringing this experience to Australia, as we mature floating offshore wind projects in NSW with our local partner," Equinor's senior director of offshore wind in Australia Thomas Hansen said.
The Foreign Investment Review Board granted approval for Equinor to invest in Oceanex's NSW offshore wind project entities late last year.
The partners proposed $10 billion project, which is part of the Hunter Offshore Wind Project, includes the construction of about 130 turbines located 30 kilometres off the coast.
While the first power is not expected to be delivered until early next decade, Oceanex has called for planning and preliminary works for a manufacturing facility to start immediately in order to maximise the amount of local content in turbines.
The company estimates about five years lead time will be needed to obtain planning approvals, order machinery and build and commission a facility.
Oceanex and Bluescope Steel have spent the past three years working to maximise the amount of Australian steel in the various offshore wind projects planned for the Australian coastline.
They estimate about 750,000 tonnes of steel will be needed for each 2 gigawatt project - or about 5,000 tonnes of steel per turbine.
The size of the final zone was significantly reduced and pushed further away from shore than what was indicated in an initial plan launched in February.
The output of the project was also reduced from eight to five gigawatts.
