Proposed offshore wind development in Geographe Bay

What it is

In February 2024, the Commonwealth Government released proposals for public comment on a massive 7,674 square kilometre area earmarked for potential offshore wind farm development off Geographe Bay. In September, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy’s announcement declaring two areas off the Bunbury Coast locations for offshore wind farm development (see map below) roughly half of what was originally proposed.

Why it matters

A significant proportion of the eastern most delcared area contains critical fish habitat including seagrass meadows and large areas of coral and sponge gardens, which among other things support dhufish spawning aggregations. While the declared area has moved 10km west of what was originally proposed, and Naturaliste Reef has been excluded, a look at the map clearly shows the easternmost declared area overlaps with important fishing areas including the FAD grounds west of the Naturaliste Reef.

What Recfishwest is doing

The Minister for Climate Change and Energy stated that he expects wind farm developers to allow fishers to at least within 50 metres of wind turbines and to consider the environment in locating the turbines. However, that does not go far enough and we are calling for the Minister and his Government to develop policies that will ensure profit-driven wind farm developers must allow fishing access around turbines and ensure they do not build them on existing reef and important fish habitat.

During the public comment process, we surveyed the fishing community and provided a comprehensive and informed submission on the proposed offshore wind area in Geographe Bay. Our submission recommended moving the eastern boundary of the proposed determination area west to the 200-metre depth contour to avoid conflict with fishers and important fishing areas and avoid impacts on corals, seagrass, seaweed and sponge gardens and all known dhufish aggregation areas.

We also criticised the Commonwealth Government’s shambolic consultation process, made a submission to the Senate Inquiry on how it had been run and encouraged members of the fishing community to do the same.

What you can do

Contact the Commonwealth Minister for Energy and Climate Change Chris Bowen at minister.bowen@dcceew.gov.au urging him to develop policy that will ensure wind farm developers will not restrict access to wind turbines, nor build turbines on existing reef or important fish habitat.
Raise the issue with your MP. Click here for more information on how you can do this.

What happens next

The next step in the process is for the Minister to award feasibility licences – applications for this licence are currently open until 6 November.
Once the Minister has awarded feasibility licences, potential developers have up to seven years to assess the feasibility of a potential project and will be required to consult with the local community.
Developers must gain environmental approvals to undertake activities over the course of a feasbibility licence.
Developers who have completed feasibility studies and met other approvals can apply for commercial licences, which are assessed against merit criteria.
Once granted a commercial licence is valid for 40 years and allow the construction and operation of offshore renewable energy generation projects.

Click on the link below to see the Commonwealth Government’s diagram of the process in more detail.

Commonwealth Government’s Offshore Wind Energy approvals process