People power blows windfarms north

A proposal to build up to 150 wind turbines off Kiama’s coast has been dashed in favour of a new location further north.

BlueFloat Energy – the company behind the South Pacific Offshore Wind Project – has selected an alternative site to Kiama, which stretches 14 kilometres from Shellharbour to Clifton, north of Thirroul.

The company had been investigating two sites, the other would have been between Kiama and Jervis Bay.

The project will see up to 150 offshore wind turbines constructed, providing 1600MW of energy to the region which could power 825,000 homes.

BlueFloat Energy Australian country manager Nick Sankey told ABC Illawarra that the company reviewed both locations, and that it preferred the northern site newable energy zone.

He added that BlueFloat will continue to refine exactly where it will construct the turbines throughout community consultation.

Independent Kiama development.

Councillor Brown listed a handful of major concerns stemming from his own consultations with the community.

One of those major concerns is how reliant the Kiama LGA is on tourism, and whether the introduction of large wind turbines would disturb the coastal scenery.