This is where we should be spending out money, page-62

But the wind farms plotted in WA, while less advanced, are even more grandiose in scale.

With Perth the world’s third-windiest capital after Wellington and Chicago, WA has long been eyed keenly by offshore wind developers.

Foreign companies are seeking billions of dollars in investment to build the biggest offshore windfarms in Australia, all within a few hundred kilometres of our “Windy City”.

Plans to construct a big wind farm with up to 50 turbines south of Rottnest Island are being pursued by British firm Flotation Energy.

The most audacious proposals have been put forward by a little-known Danish renewable energy developer, Copenhagen Energy, which was founded just two years ago and has yet to build a wind farm.

Each wind farm would produce over twice the electricity of the biggest offshore wind farm in the word: Hornsea One, off the coast of Yorkshire in the UK.

They would also dwarf WA’s biggest windfarm, Yandin, just north of Perth, which has 51 turbines at 180m high.

The three additional sites identified so far are off the coast of Binningup, between Mandurah and Bunbury, near Kalbarri in the Mid West, and in Perth’s northern suburbs between Lancelin and Two Rocks.

Details of a fourth site off the WA coast have yet to be confirmed.

The Danish start-up estimates it will need about $50bn — $12bn for each project — which it says will provide 12GW of energy and create tens of thousands of jobs

This would provide enough energy to power every home in Australia several times over.

Much of the electricity, the company says, would be used by heavy industry and diverted to massive green hydrogen projects earmarked for WA.

The Federal Government has yet to pinpoint where the Perth and Bunbury offshore wind energy zone will be.

But if approved, the Leeuwin wind farm would be the first off the rank, with construction to begin in 2026 before becoming operational in 2028.

It would consist of up to 200 wind turbines between 268m and 385m tall, with each rotor blade having a diameter of between 240m and 320m: almost twice the length of the oval at the Optus Stadium.

The turbines would generate between 15mw and 24mw of electricity each, making them far bigger and more powerful than any built before.

They would be spaced up to 2km apart covering an area of 700sqkm.

https://thewest.com.au/features/the-sunday-times-long-reads/renewable-energy-investigation-could-wa-be-at-the-centre-of-the-worlds-wind-farm-revolution-c-8086212

I am of the view both the state and fed govt. should own a share in these projects.

Raider