The Bass Offshore Wind Energy (BOWE) project is a proposed offshore wind farm located approximately 30-kilometres northeast of Tasmania, in the Gippsland Offshore Wind Zone.
The project is proposed to have 70-100 fixed bottom turbines with up to 1.5 gigawatts of capacity.
It is proposed that the project will connect to the Tasmanian mainland via a transmission cable to George Town.
Key Dates
| Dec 2022 | Project Announcement |
Procurement
| Procuring Agency: | A Joint Venture of Nexsphere and Equinor |
| Procurement note: | The project was initially proposed by Nexsphere, with Equinor joining in a Joint Venture in December 2022. |
| Related contracts: |
PROJECT HISTORY
| Mar 2019 | Nexsphere commences scoping and feasibility study to evaluate whether offshore wind was a viable renewable energy source in Australia. Zone identification and assessment progressed with a strong focus on southern Australia and the wind resource area in the Bass Strait. |
| Aug 2022 | Federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy publishes Notice of Proposal for Bass Strait, which began a consultation process to look at creation of an offshore wind zone in the Bass Strait region. |
| Dec 2022 | Equinor, a Norwegian broad energy company, and Nexsphere, an Australian company, announced the establishment of a Joint Venture to develop the project. The project was originally proposed by Nexsphere. |
| Dec 2022 | Minister declared an area in the Bass Strait as being suitable for offshore energy. This is the first offshore wind zone declared in Australia. The declared area covers approximately 15,000 square kilometres and runs offshore from Lakes Entrance in the east, to south of Wilsons Promontory in the west. |
| Apr 2023 | Equinor announced it had received Foreign Investment Review Board approval to invest in the Bass Offshore Wind Energy project. |
| Jun 2023 | The Tasmanian Government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Nexsphere and Equinor, to progress the project. |
| Dec 2024 | The Federal Government formally declared the Bass Strait offshore wind area. |
Sector
Energy
Procurement approach
Other |
Location
Tasmania |
Resources
