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Australia has approved the 943 MW Valley of the Winds Wind Farm, Bermuda plans to install an offshore wind farm with 17 turbines by 2027, and Nova Scotia proposes an ambitious $10 billion offshore wind project.
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Australia has given the green light to a massive wind project. The Independent Planning Commission in New South Wales has approved ACEN Australia’s nine hundred forty-three megawatt Valley of the Winds wind farm. The project also includes a three hundred twenty megawatt battery storage system. The project will create up to four hundred construction jobs and fifty permanent positions. The investment is approximately one point six eight billion Australian dollars.
The island nation of Bermuda is making the most of its windy weather. Officials unveiled plans for an offshore wind farm starting with seventeen turbines by twenty twenty-seven. The project aims to help Bermuda reach its twenty thirty-five goal of eighty-five percent renewable energy. The project will begin with a sixty megawatt installation near the north shore. Officials hope to scale up to one hundred twenty megawatts total.
Nigel Burgess, head of regulation at Regulatory Authority Bermuda, calls offshore wind a compelling opportunity. The project will lower exposure to fuel price shocks and create space for long-term investment. Currently, Bermuda gets one hundred percent of its power from fuel burning. The project aims to promote energy independence by reducing dependence on imported fuels. The wind farm is expected to be operational by twenty thirty.
Nova Scotia has announced an ambitious offshore wind project that could cost up to ten billion dollars. Premier Tim Houston wants to license enough offshore turbines over the next ten years to produce forty gigawatts of electricity. That’s eight times more than originally planned. To put this in perspective, Nova Scotia with just over one million people requires only two point four gigawatts at peak demand. China’s offshore wind turbines were producing just under forty-two gigawatts as of last year.
The project would require hundreds of wind turbines built in water about one hundred meters deep, about twenty-five kilometers offshore. Experts say the project would actually need more than four thousand offshore turbines using current fifteen megawatt turbines. The transmission line alone is estimated to cost between five billion and ten billion dollars to connect the wind farms with the rest of the country.
The premier calls it a concept to capture the imagination of Nova Scotians. He wants federal help to cover costs, saying the excess electricity could supply twenty-seven percent of Canada’s total demand.
