The federal government has approved the Illawarra offshore windfarm area as angry campaigners hit their key boards and plan demonstrations.

Federal Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen announced the creation of the zone in Wollongong with Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones and local MP Alison Byrnes.

“Through this zone, the Albanese government will deliver up to 2.9 gigawatts of reliable renewable power – enough to power 1.8 million homes,” Bowen said.

Despite the creation of the zone, the project still needs to be approved under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water originally proposed a zone stretching across 1461 square kilometres of the Pacific Ocean from Wombarra in the north to Kiama in the south.

The geographic project size has been cut by one third and power generation will shrink from 4.2 gigawatts to 2.9 gigawatts.

One turbine can produce enough electricity in a year to power approximately 20,000 households and save around 38,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. That’s the equivalent of removing 25,000 cars from the road each year.

The project zone has also been pushed from 10 kilometres offshore to 20 kilometres. The creation of the zone opens it up for projects to apply to build offshore wind farms within the boundaries. Each application must be approved by the federal government.

Credit Nicholas-Doherty, Unsplash

Feasibility licence applications for offshore wind projects in the Illawarra zone open on Monday 17 June and close on Thursday 15 August 2024.

It is expected that Illawarra Offshore Wind - a partnership between Equinor and Oceanex – plan to start construction in 2028 following approvals and turn the power on by 2030.

According to the partnerships website, it plans to create 3000 jobs through the life span of the project.

The proposal is controversial in the Illawarra with a number of vocal community groups forming in support and opposition.

Opponents have fears it will disturb the path of migratory whales, will drop property prices and look ugly from the shore.

Developers must conduct research on how the windfarms may affect the 25-35,000 Humpback whales which migrate past the Illawarra coast.

Amid genuine concerns, misinformation has also been rife, including the circulation of a fake journal article claiming 400 whales a year would die.

Former president Donald Trump said in the US media, “whales are dying in record numbers because of these wind scams.”

A study on the more bizarre claims of the anti-windfarm lobby can be found at ‘Wind turbine syndrome, a communicated disease,’ by Simon Chapman and Fiona Crichton.