Illawarra Offshore Wind Zone (paused)
BlueFloat Energy (application withdrawn Q1 2026)
offshore windwithdrawnConfidence: High
Capacity and technology
Technology
offshore wind
Capacity (MW)
unknown
Estimated capex, local spend and peak workforce
Total development cost
unknown unknown
Capacity unknown — capex cannot be benchmark-estimated.
Estimated local / regional spend
unknown unknown
Local spend not estimable without a capex figure.
Estimated peak construction workforce
unknown
Industry benchmark: ~0.7 FTE/MW wind, 0.5 FTE/MW solar, 0.4 FTE/MWh BESS, 1.5 FTE/MW pumped hydro. Peak during civil/electrical phase only — operations workforce is typically ~5-10% of construction peak.
Approvals and access rights
Project status
withdrawn
Planning status
Federal Illawarra offshore wind area declared under OEI Act 2021; feasibility licence application from BlueFloat Energy withdrawn Q1 2026; Australian government will not grant feasibility licences in Illawarra. Zone open for R&D licences only.
Access right status
n/a — federal offshore licensing pathway, application withdrawn
EPBC status
n/a — application withdrawn before EPBC
Grid connection
n/a — no project to connect
Financial close
n/a — withdrawn
Construction start
n/a
Operations start
n/a
Location
LGA
Wollongong / Shellharbour / Kiama (host coastal LGAs)
Region
Illawarra coastal NSW — federal offshore declared area
REZ
Illawarra REZ
REZ relationship
adjacent — offshore declared area off Illawarra coast
Coordinates
-34.5, 151.1 (approximate)
Project documents — EIS, SEARs, proponent pages
Direct links to public documents and pages for this project. Phase 2 ingestion will pull updates automatically; Sprint 0 entries are verified manually with a confidence score per record.
- otherConfidence: Very highPublished: 2024Illawarra, NSW — declared offshore wind area (DCCEEW)https://www.dcceew.gov.au/energy/renewable/offshore-wind/areas/illawarra ↗Federal area declared under the Offshore Electricity Infrastructure Act 2021. Zone open for R&D licences only after BlueFloat withdrawal.
- otherConfidence: Very highPublished: 2026-Q1Federal government knew of BlueFloat Illawarra withdrawal — Renew Economyhttps://reneweconomy.com.au/federal-government-says-it-already-knew-of-withdrawal-of-key-offshore-wind-project-in-illawarra/ ↗BlueFloat — sole applicant for an Illawarra feasibility licence — withdrew as it scales back its global offshore wind business. Government will not grant feasibility licences in the Illawarra zone as no application could progress to licence award.
Notes
Tracked for completeness — the pause is itself a material data point for the Illawarra REZ narrative. The federal offshore pathway was originally the largest potential generation source for the Illawarra REZ; its absence reframes the state REZ around distributed energy, community batteries and green industry (steel/H2).
Source confidence: 78/100
Last verified: 2026-05-18
Every material fact on this page is sourced. A "View source" link is provided per source below.
Last verified: 2026-05-18
Every material fact on this page is sourced. A "View source" link is provided per source below.
Source evidence
Confidence: High- primaryDCCEEW — EPBC referrals and approvalsView source ↗Authoritative for EPBC referral and approval status. EPBC approval is separate from state planning approval.
Open questions
- Planning status against the NSW Planning Portal — verify SSD reference.
- EPBC referral status — verify against DCCEEW public notices.
- Storage MWh and voltage figures — confirm from proponent documents and AEMO Generation Information.
- Workforce and accommodation commitments — confirm in SSD documentation or VPA.
- First Nations engagement reporting — confirm in IEP / cultural heritage chapter.
See this project in context
REZ workspace
Illawarra REZ
All projects, pressure bands and shared-value commitments for this REZ
LGA detail
Wollongong
3 projects · everything affecting this council area
LGA detail
Shellharbour
3 projects · everything affecting this council area
LGA detail
Kiama (host coastal LGAs
1 projects · everything affecting this council area
Workforce + supply ratio
Demand vs ABS baseline
How this REZ's peak compares to existing regional workforce
Regional spend
Annual flow by year
This project's share of the year-by-year capex flow into regional NSW
Project timeline
Gantt by REZ
Visual overlap with neighbouring projects' construction windows
Cross-sector pressures
Non-REZ competing demand
What else is being built in the region in the same window