THE first public steps were taken last week for one of the three offshore wind farms planned for our region.

Skyborn Renewables held three community consultation sessions – at Cape Bridgewater, Portland and Nelson – for the Cape Winds Offshore Wind Farm, planned for Discovery Bay likely in an area between about Mount Richmond and Nelson.

The final site will be known once the federal government officially ‘declares’ the area as an offshore wind farm resource, meaning Cape Winds can expand into Commonwealth waters – this would also increase its size to 2GW, up from 500MW if confined to state waters.

Skyborn managing director Mirjam Tome said she was happy with the reception the company received.

“It’s been really positive,” she said.

“Lots of people have made the comment we do need renewables. That’s great to hear.

“With the coal powered stations closing that’s what we need.”

Locals were particularly interested in the environmental studies that needed to be done and the visual impact, Ms Tome said.

“Our project doesn’t really have a lot of visual impacts because you can’t really see it from any town,” she said.

“We took all of that into consideration.”

So where to from here?

The federal government declaration process will mean a further two months of public consultation.

“Then we can apply for a feasibility licence,” Ms Tome said.

“We have started with the state waters project and we do have scoping requirements from a state perspective.

“We are working towards environmental studies but we want to make sure we do them (state and federal) at the same time.

“The actual site has firmed up to an extent – we have tenure over an area and we will investigate that area (with various studies).

“That will determine whether we can utilise the whole area or have to use microsites or have to shift it.”

Ms Tome said the area was ideal for the purpose.

“It’s a pretty windy spot, it’s a really good location which is based on wind speed, water depth and proximity to the Portland port,” she said.

All going well, construction was not expected to start until 2028 or 2029 and would take three years.

There would also be plenty of future consultation.

“It’s important for us to take the community along,” Ms Tome said.

“That’s why we wanted to come in early and feed it back into the design.

“We will keep people updated with newsletters and progress reports and we will be in the region and have fairly regular sessions.”

Marisa Jennings of Bridgewater Lakes was one of those at the Cape Bridgewater session on Thursday.

“It’s positive for green energy,” she said of the project.

“We’ve got all this wind here all the time.

“(Wind) opened up Australia with windmills  and that’s what I compare it to. Technology will surpass them eventually just like with solar panels taking over from windmills.”