The Federal Government is hearing local's views about New South Wales' second offshore wind zone. Community consultation sessions on the Illawarra offshore wind zone begin this week, following the declaration of the state's first offshore wind zone in the hunter earlier this year.
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00:00 The offshore wind zone will cover an area of just under 1500 kilometres off the Illawarra
00:06 coast, stretching from the Royal National Park just south of Sydney down to Kiama in
00:11 the southernmost suburb of the Illawarra.
00:13 The wind farm is expected to generate 4.2 gigawatts of energy, which is enough to power
00:18 3.4 million homes.
00:20 The turbines will be at least 10 kilometres from the shore for most of the area, down
00:25 to Kiama where they'll be 30 kilometres off the coast.
00:28 The offshore wind zone will create 1,250 ongoing jobs as well as 2,500 jobs during construction.
00:35 The Illawarra is a historically industrial area, home to Australia's largest steel producer,
00:40 Blue Scope, as well as a number of coal mines.
00:43 During a week of community consultation kicking off this week, local residents have had the
00:47 chance to share their views about the proposal.
00:50 The main concerns being raised are the visual impact of the turbines on the coastline, as
00:54 well as impact on marine life such as whales migrating up the coast.
00:59 However, many have voiced their support of the proposal and the jobs that it will create.
01:03 I think a lot of our people have gone because there's been a downturn for years and years
01:09 and years in this area.
01:10 I mean, I don't say they won't come back, but we've got to get something for our kids
01:17 to do.
01:19 If we can mitigate those risks to marine life with these wind turbines offshore, then let's
01:25 do that.
01:26 Let's do that.
01:27 Let's also respect the fact that the visual amenity is, it's okay to be troubled by that.
01:34 It'll be like living on a runway.
01:36 People overseas have said those red flashing lights at night are like living next to a
01:40 runway.
01:41 We didn't move to this beautiful, pristine, leisure environment to be looking out at an
01:46 industrial power plant off our shore.
01:50 Energy Minister Chris Bowen has said the final offshore wind zone is unlikely to be the same
01:54 as what's initially proposed.
01:56 He says the community feedback is expected to be genuine and will change the final zone.
02:01 In the Hunter, we saw a significantly different declared offshore wind zone to what was initially
02:06 proposed.
02:07 However, in that community, we're still hearing concerns about the proposal for an offshore
02:11 wind farm.
02:12 It remains to be seen whether in the Illawarra, the community's concerns will be addressed.
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