The Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) Public Portal shows that formal federal environmental referral applications have been lodged for two offshore wind developments proposed off the coast of Gippsland, Victoria. The referrals mark the start of the statutory environmental assessment process at federal level.
The Gippsland 1 Offshore Wind Farm referral has been submitted by Ørsted. According to the official project summary on the EPBC Act Public Portal, the proposal covers the construction, operation and decommissioning of an offshore wind farm with an indicative capacity of up to 2.8 GW, including offshore generation assets and associated transmission infrastructure.
A separate referral for the Blue Mackerel Offshore Wind Farm has been lodged by JERA Nex BP. The government listing states that the proposed offshore wind farm has an indicative generation capacity of up to 1 GW, together with associated offshore and onshore infrastructure that is subject to assessment under the EPBC Act.
Both referrals are recorded on the Australian Government’s official EPBC Act Public Portal, where project documentation and assessment stages are published as part of the federal approvals process.
