Illawarra Offshore Wind Farm is only 2 weeks away from being a done deal
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These days with inflation entrenched, one can assume the suppliers have contract clauses that allow them to escalate the price healthily with inflation i.e. it would not be a fixed price tender. One can also bet these are based not on a known variable such as CPI but on some hidden maths only the supplier can produce based on their cost data. And, the clauses and eventual costs will be commercial in confidence. The ability of even a huge customer such as the Australian Government to negotiate and manage price shifts mid project on these types of contract is very weak. They will get totally locked in contractually but also by the need to complete the project.
Bowen would have sweated a bit as he read the legal review of contract and the risks it created for a cost blow out (big) but under pressure to be a man of action, it will be signed.
Blank cheque.
There will be tears before bedtime.
I have only become aware of these plans the last week and I am genuinely curious how many people actually know about it.
The "Honourable" Member Chris Bowen MP wants to pay a Danish company an undisclosed amount of taxpayer money (hint, it will be pushing trillions) to build offshore wind energy farms, the one unfortunately planned for the Illawarra will just 10km from the coast. They also plan to build installations off Newcastle and the Gippsland region.
These projects will be installing the Vestas V236 ( https://www.vestas.com/en/products/offshore/V236-15MW ). Please don't be fooled by all the slick talk about the environment on their web page, they are there to make money first.
The Illawarra project will cover an area of 1,461km squared, with a planned 105 turbines stacked along the coastline from Kiama to Wombarra, each reaching a whopping 260m into the sky (twice the height of the Sydney Harbour Bridge).
To achieve this, a 3 x offshore sub stations will be required that will resemble offshore oil rigs All of these turbines and sub stations will be easily visible from land and at night the navigation lights for aircraft and boats will also be visible. Add to this an exclusion zone for all private boating around the turbines - yes that's an effective barrier exactly 10km offshore from Kiama to Wombarra, for any private boats wanting to go more than 10km straight East.
Community consultation was all but non-existent, now it seems we are only weeks out from it being irreversible.
This will be a disaster for the local community, who have a right to enjoy the coast-line they grew up with or bought a house next to, without it being turned into an industrial zone.
This will be a disaster for the marine ecosystem, for migrating bird species, whales, kelp forests, the whole package.
This will be a disaster when multiple oil spills occur, when base metals leach into the ocean. When marine mammals beach themselves during the lengthy construction phase due to the underwater vibrations caused by the rotors.
This will be a disaster due to Australia spending a phenomenal amount of tax dollars on "green", early generation, renewable technology that is questionable at best for it's value and longevity.
Please go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/729217955702227 to see more and sign the petition to the government to put a stop to this ludicrous plan.