NSW deep dive › Hunter offshore declared area › Novocastrian Wind

Novocastrian Wind

Novocastrian Wind Pty Ltd (JV) · developer: Equinor + Oceanex Energy

offshore windearly proposalConfidence: High

Capacity and technology

Technology

offshore wind

Capacity (MW)

2.00 GW

Estimated capex, local spend and peak workforce

Total development cost

~$11.00B benchmark estimate

2000 MW × $5.5M/MW (offshore wind, floating)

Industry benchmark only — not project-specific. Sources: Clean Energy Council, BloombergNEF 2024 Australian utility-scale LCOE inputs, AEMO ISP 2024 cost assumptions. Actual capex varies materially by site, OEM, supply chain and grid-connection works.

Estimated local / regional spend

~$2.42B benchmark estimate

22% of capex — Clean Energy Council benchmark for renewable energy construction in regional Australia. Actual local content varies by project siting, procurement strategy and any access-scheme local-content conditions.

Estimated peak construction workforce

~2,000 roles benchmark estimate

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.

Workforce breakdown — sector mix and phasing

Sector mix and phase distribution for the estimated construction workforce. Basis: industry norm (Clean Energy Council, ARENA, AEMO ISP 2024 + comparable EIS Social Impact Assessments). Numbers are decision-support indicators, not a project-specific forecast.

By service sector / industry (peak year)

Civil / earthworks

~200 FTE

Electrical trades

~500 FTE

Mechanical / structural

~600 FTE

Plant operators

~300 FTE

PM / engineering / env

~200 FTE

Logistics / admin

~200 FTE

By phase (across construction window)

Phase	FTE	What's happening
Mobilisation + civils (year 1)	~1,200	Site prep, access roads, foundations, early electrical. Civil trades dominant.
Peak construction (year 2)	~2,000	All trades concurrent. Turbine / panel delivery, electrical install, commissioning prep.
Commissioning / demob (year 3)	~1,400	Specialist electrical and testing. Civil and structural ramping down.
Operations (ongoing)	~140	Permanent O&M workforce — typically 5–10% of construction peak. Plus periodic major-maintenance windows.

Sector mix from CEC, ARENA and AEMO ISP workforce profiles for utility-scale Australian builds. Phase distribution from comparable EIS Social Impact Assessments. Indicative only — actual workforce varies with OEM, contractor strategy, weather and OSOM scheduling.

Approvals and access rights

Project status

early proposal

Planning status

Commonwealth offshore wind feasibility licence granted (Hunter declared area). Up to 7-year feasibility stage.

Access right status

Commonwealth feasibility licence — not under NSW REZ access scheme

EPBC status

feasibility stage; environmental approvals pending

Grid connection

not yet determined; onshore connection point in Hunter region tbc

Financial close

pre-FID

Construction start

unknown — post-feasibility

Operations start

unknown

Location

LGA

Newcastle / Lake Macquarie (onshore interface)

Region

Hunter offshore NSW

REZ

Hunter offshore declared area

REZ relationship

offshore declared area

Coordinates

-32.8, 152.6 (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.

proponent pageConfidence: Very high
Novocastrian Wind — Hunter New Energy article
https://hunternewenergy.com.au/feasibility-license-granted-for-novocastrian-offshore-wind-project/ ↗
Feasibility licence granted by Commonwealth.
approval instrumentConfidence: Very high
Hunter offshore wind zone — Final decision on feasibility licences (DCCEEW)
https://www.dcceew.gov.au/about/news/hunter-offshore-wind-zone-final-decision-feasibility-licences ↗
Commonwealth feasibility licence award announcement.

Notes

Floating offshore wind farm. Equinor + Oceanex Energy joint venture. 500 km² area, 22-52 km off the Hunter coast. Up to 2 GW potential capacity. Feasibility licence holder cannot yet build — feasibility stage may last up to 7 years. Estimated ~3,000 construction jobs + 200-300 permanent jobs.

Source confidence: 78/100
Last verified: 2026-05-13
Every material fact on this page is sourced. A "View source" link is provided per source below.

Source evidence

Confidence: High

primaryDCCEEW — Offshore wind declared areas
View source ↗
Commonwealth declaration of offshore wind areas under the OEI Act. Distinct regulatory pathway from onshore REZs.
secondaryProponent project websites
View source ↗
Proponent-supplied content from each project's dedicated page on the proponent's website. Useful for technology, capacity intent, community engagement messaging, project newsletters, fact sheets and timeline updates. Cannot override official planning_status or epbc_status. Per-project page URLs are tracked under each project's project_documents.
supportingMedia reporting (context only)
View source ↗
Media is used for context, controversy, timing signals and public scrutiny — never as the source of truth for regulatory status.

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

Hunter offshore declared area

All projects, pressure bands and shared-value commitments for this REZ

LGA detail

Newcastle

1 projects · everything affecting this council area

LGA detail

Lake Macquarie (onshore interface

1 projects · everything affecting this council area

Workforce + supply ratio

Demand vs ABS baseline