MANY people may be completely unaware, according to a spokesperson for the Sandy Point Community Group, that the Gippsland Skies consortium is considering bringing the transmission line from its proposed 2.5 GW wind farm, to be located south of Wilsons Promontory, onshore at Waratah Bay.
Such a development would see a line of 55-metre-high, 500kV transmission towers, about 2/3rds the height of the Bald Hills Wind Turbines, marching across farmland from Sandy Point, past Fish Creek, Meeniyan, Dumbalk and Mirboo North to the Latrobe Valley in time to be operational by 2032.
It was one of the details gleaned from Gippsland Skies’ representatives at a community consultation drop-in session at Sandy Point on Saturday, February 15, attended by upwards of 30 people, following a similar morning session attended by 25 people at Foster.
President of the Sandy Point Community Group, Michelle Jelleff, said she was unaware there was potential for a second shore crossing in Gippsland, other than the corridor identified by VicGrid for community consultation near Giffard east of Yarram.
“Some of our members might be aware of it but I didn’t know they were scoping a separate location until I spoke to them today,” said Ms Jelleff.
“It’s still a long way off and presumably they’d have to go through a lengthy approvals process. It’s unknown if the government would approve an alternative connection point.”
Ms Jelleff said the process for her group would be to take the information to the members and provide them with the relevant details and links through the newsletter.
“We have a huge following on Facebook,” she said.
Asked why she thought there had been a relatively small turnout at the Sandy Point drop-in session, Ms Jelleff said it might be the weather, but more likely people simply hadn’t heard about the potential for a new transmission corridor at Waratah Bay.
“I don’t know that the broader community is aware of it,” she said.
But just two months out from a Federal Elections, in April or May this year, and Waratah Bay located in what is expected to be one of the mostly hotly contested seats in the nation, Monash, whether the next government will agree to a transmission corridor running 55 metres above the ground through the middle of the electorate is likely to be a major election issue locally.
Famously, it was the Federal Election of 2004, a proposed wind farm at Dollar overlooking the Prom and 1000 screaming people at a public meeting in the Foster hall, addressed by UK environmentalist David Bellamy, that ended the political career of Labor’s Christian Zahra and brought back Russell Broadbent one month later.
Could the prospect of new high-voltage transmission lines, running through the middle of South Gippsland to iconic Waratah Bay and two offshore windfarms south of Wilsons Promontory do something similar to the result in Monash? Only time will tell.
‘Deeply concerned,’ says Responsible Renewables
COMMUNITY-based lobby group, Responsible Renewables, has come out strongly opposed to plans for a second cross-shore transmission line at Waratah Bay to connect with Gippsland’s offshore wind projects.
The group, which is a collective of community members concerned about the impact of the offshore wind rollout on the local environment and local community said on Sunday, February 16 that they have “received new information from Gippsland Skies and Marinus Link regarding expanded infrastructure plans for the Gippsland offshore wind zone”.
They have issued the following statement:
While the current onshore connection corridor at Giffard has a 2GW capacity, the zone's total planned capacity of 7GW-9GW will require additional connection points. Waratah Bay, adjacent to Wilsons Promontory National Park, is being investigated as well as the entire area from McLoughlin's Beach to Seaspray. We have been advised that VicGrid will undertake public consultation by October 2025 and make the final decision on connection points.
Laura Jennings from Responsible Renewables stated, "We are deeply concerned about proposals to establish onshore connections through Waratah Bay – an integral part of the Wilsons Promontory seascape. This directly contradicts Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen's commitment to protect the western side of Wilsons Promontory from offshore wind turbines and associated infrastructure."
"The environmental cost to Wilsons Promontory’s pristine coastline, marine ecosystem, and local environment is simply too high. While we support renewable energy development, it cannot come at the expense of protecting our irreplaceable natural heritage. This appears to be driven by multinational developers' profit motives rather than community interests."
Jennings added, "We're now facing a scenario where responsibility will likely be shifted between developers and different levels of government. The community consultation process by both state and federal governments has been inadequate from the start, failing to properly consider the needs of both current and future generations. This rush toward renewable energy development without due environmental consideration prioritises corporate interests over long-term environmental stewardship."
Responsible Renewables will continue to advocate for environmentally conscious renewable energy development that genuinely serves community interests and protects Victoria's natural environment for future generations.
Community consultation
The final community engagement and consultation for Gippsland Skies marine investigations and management plan will be held at the Fish Creek Memorial Hall on Thursday, February 20, between 4pm-6pm.
All of the Gippsland feasibility licence holders will then deliver a second round of joint community engagement events to be held in Port Albert, Golden Beach, Sale and Leongatha during March.
The regional events will provide an opportunity for locals to meet and engage with the offshore wind developers behind Gippsland’s proposed projects
- Port Albert - Wednesday 12 March 2025, 4:00pm – 6:00pm, Port Albert Mechanics Institute
- Golden Beach - Thursday 13 March 2025, 4:00pm – 6:00pm, Golden Beach Community Centre
- Sale - Saturday 22 March 2025, 10:00am – 2:00pm, Nakunbalook, Sale Botanic Gardens
- Leongatha - Thursday 27 March 2025, 4:00pm – 6:00pm, Leongatha Memorial Hall.
The organisers are encouraging local communities to attend to learn more about offshore wind, upcoming project plans, socio-economic benefits and share feedback.
The Australian Government has granted 12 feasibility licences for offshore wind projects off Gippsland’s coast in Victoria. These licence holders are:
- High Sea Wind Pty Ltd
- Gippsland Skies Pty Ltd
- Blue Mackerel North Pty Ltd
- Kut-Wut Brataualung Pty Ltd
- Ørsted Offshore Australia 1 Pty Ltd (Gippsland 01)
- Star of the South Wind Farm Pty Ltd (SOTS)
- Iberdrola Australia OW 2 Pty Ltd (Aurora Green)
- Gippsland Dawn OWP Project Pty Ltd (Gippsland Dawn)
- Navigator North Project Pty Ltd
- Ørsted Offshore Australia 1 Pty Ltd (Gippsland 02)
- Kent Offshore Wind Pty Ltd
- Great Eastern Offshore Wind Farm Project Co Pty Ltd.
The feasibility licence application process was highly competitive with 37 applications received.
Background: Waratah Bay corridor
A spokesperson for Gippsland Skies claimed at Sandy Point on Saturday, February 15 that the Victorian Government agency, VicGrid, is considering a second cross-shore connection for Gippsland’s offshore wind projects, other than the location between Giffard West and Seaspray, which is so far the only one declared suitable for further investigation.
According to details from the Gippsland Skies’ website:
“The Victorian Government agency, VicGrid, is leading the development of new shared transmission network infrastructure in Gippsland, including identifying connection locations for offshore wind projects and ensuring the development of necessary transmission lines to connect to the electricity grid,” said Gippsland Skies.
“At this early stage, project approvals will include consideration of two possible marine cable routes, a primary Eastern Cable Corridor and an alternative Northern Cable Corridor:
- The proposed Eastern Cable Corridor extends from our proposed Project’s Feasibility Licence Area (Declared Area OEI-01-2022 part 3, south of Waratah Bay and Wilsons Promontory) up to VicGrid’s proposed initial connection point for 2GW of offshore wind at Giffard.
- The proposed Northern Cable Corridor extends from our proposed Project’s Feasibility Licence Area up to Waratah Bay, although it should be noted that currently no VicGrid nominated connection point for offshore wind has been identified in this area.
“Selection of Gippsland Skies’ final cable corridor route will ultimately be dependent upon the outcomes from VicGrid’s Victorian Transmission Plan and identification of connection point(s) for offshore wind determined by VicGrid.”
According to VicGrid, it is “now refining the study area” for the cross-shore corridor between Giffard West and Seaspray “to host the transmission needed for the first 2 GW of offshore wind through open consultation and in-depth technical assessments.”
However, it appears to leave open the number of cross-shore corridors that will be needed to achieve the target of 9 GW from the declared Gippsland offshore area.
“To achieve future offshore wind energy targets of up to 9 gigawatt (GW), the 500 kV solution would require only a single set of towers per corridor. The 330 kV solution would require two sets of shorter towers, which would have a higher visual amenity impact.”
VicGrid has been asked to respond to Gippsland Skies’ claims that they are actively considering a cross-shore transmission corridor at Waratah Bay, principally to connect with the proposed Gippsland Skies 2.5 GW project and also the 2.2 GW Kut-Wut Brataualung wind farm project, located side-by-side in Declared Area OEI-01-2022 part 3, south of Waratah Bay and Wilsons Promontory, relatively remote from the Giffard West transmission corridor.
The Kut-Wut Brataualung wind farm project is the second being promoted by the Southerly Ten consortium, formerly known as Star of the South wind farm, which has won two feasibility licences including the original Star of the South project located in Declared Area OEI-01-2022 part 1 between Port Albert and Woodside Beach.
Following the declaration of the Gippsland offshore area for wind farm development on December 19, 2022, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen committed to further consideration of the area west of Wilsons Promontory. However, on August 31, 2023, after additional consideration and consultation with the Victorian Government, the Minister concluded that there were unacceptable environmental risks to progressing with offshore wind in this region. The Minister confirmed that “the region west of Wilsons Promontory would not be considered further for declaration”.
You’d have to wonder why, then, the area west of the Prom, including Waratah Bay is being proposed to host a second transmission corridor to connect offshore energy generation to the Latrobe Valley.
