Renewables developer Equinor has made the decision to exit the proposed 2GW Novocastrian Offshore Wind Farm, a floating offshore wind project it was developing off the New South Wales with local partner Oceanex Energy.
Project company Novocastrian Offshore Wind said in a statement it had decided not to proceed with the feasibility licence offered by the Australian Government for the Hunter offshore wind zone.
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“The decision reflects a combination of broader global challenges affecting the offshore wind industry and developers, and project-specific factors,” the statement read.
Speaking in a radio interview, Australian Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said, “Equinor is withdrawing from renewables investment around the world at the moment, which, I will be very frank with you, I find very disappointing.”
“And also, offshore wind is facing some global international investment headwinds right at the moment, partly driven by some uncertainty out of the United States. So, we are caught up in that. So, that’s very disappointing.”
Asked whether Oceanex could continue the project on its own, Bowen said, “They’re too small. They’re a great company, but they are too small to undertake such a big project alone. They don’t have the access to the capital.”
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“They are experts in their field,” he said. “They would be the first to say this is too big just for them. They need a partner and frankly, an international partner, given there’s no offshore wind being built in Australia yet, it is quite common around the world, and so they’re not able to proceed without that partner.”
“But their interest and hopes for the Hunter is undiminished,” he added.
