The boss of Australia’s most advanced offshore windfarm is confident the federal government’s rejection of a major port facility in Victoria will not delay his project delivering its first electricity by the end of this decade.
The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, rejected a Victorian government plan to create a facility at Port of Hastings to serve the nascent industry because of “clearly unacceptable” impacts on internationally significant wetlands.
On Tuesday Victoria’s premier, Jacinta Allan, said the state government was reviewing the decision but believed there could be “appropriate mitigations” to reduce the project’s impact on the Ramsar-listed Western Port wetlands.
Star of the South is Australia’s most advanced offshore wind project, with plans to generate up to 2.2 gigawatts of electricity – about 20% of Victoria’s total – from between 120 and 150 turbines off the south coast of Gippsland.
The Port of Hastings project was designed to serve multiple projects. Offshore windfarms need port facilities on land to handle and assemble turbines and foundations.
“They’re absolutely critical for the delivery of an offshore wind industry,” said Charles Rattray, chief executive of Star of the South.
He told Guardian Australia the company’s preferred option was a facility at Port of Hastings but contingency plans were in place.
“We remain confident we can deliver first power around the end of this decade,” he said. “There is no doubt that a dedicated port would help but a lot of [offshore wind] projects globally are delivered through multiple ports.”
Both Geelong’s port and Port of Bell Bay, on the north coast of Tasmania, were being considered as primary construction ports for the project. Operational bases were also being considered at Barry beach marine terminal and Port Anthony in south Gippsland.
“These projects are really complex, big challenges and we will have good and bad news days all the way through,” Rattray said.
Asked if he had anticipated the federal government might reject the Port of Hastings plan, Rattray said: “Environmental approvals for large-scale infrastructure projects are a critical risk that always needs to be assessed. We used multiple criteria assessments and we thought it was important, based on that, to keep multiple port options open.”
He said the project – with an estimated $8bn capital cost – was in “constant dialogue” with the Victorian government.
Allan said the state government would review the decision and remained confident the proposal could be approved.
“Appropriate mitigations that manage and support environmental impacts can still see the project delivered and that’s our view on the Port of Hastings project,” she said.
“We believe that with the right mitigations you can deliver a project like this successfully. We do it in transport projects – there’s a whole range of different projects that go through these assessment processes.”
Speaking in flood-impacted Seymour, in central Victoria, Allan said a mix of renewable energy was vital to support climate action. “We are standing in a town that has had its second major flooding impact in 450 days,” she said. “We’ve got to take action and that is the action we have been taking for some time.
Allan said offshore wind would help the Victorian government reach its targets to have 65% of electricity from renewable energy by 2030 and 95% by 2035.
“It’s also part of the federal government’s priorities in terms of achieving their own federal renewable energy targets,” she said.
Victoria has a target to generate at least 2GW of offshore wind by 2032, 4GW by 2035 and 9GW by 2040.
The state’s current generation capacity, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator, is 19.6GW, which includes 7.4GW of coal- and gas-fired power generation.
Star of the South, together with Flotation Energy’s 1.5 GW Seadragon project, also off the Gippsland coast, have been granted major project status by the federal government.
Carolyn Sanders, the head of operations at Flotation Energy, said: “The assessment [of the Port of Hastings project] is a matter for State and Federal Government to work through.
“Flotation Energy will continue to work with all levels of government as well as key stakeholders and potential ports to ensure project readiness.”
