Kiama locals fear offshore wind farm may harm whales, sea views

Offshore wind developers BlueFloat Energy and Energy Estate held an information session in the seaside town recently to discuss the proposal to build a 1.6 Gigawatt floating wind farm off the coast with 105 wind turbines stretching south from waters off Kiama.

Kiama Council this week voted to oppose the wind farm - the motion was narrowly passed 5-4 - and write to the relevant ministers and developers asking how the environmental and economic risks had been considered.

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Katrina Novak is one of those unimpressed by the proposal, and says it would industrialise the South Coast and degrade its beauty.

"Coastal towns rely on the pristine beaches, coastal walks, blowhole, clean waters, whale watching and marine life," she said.

"In the mad rush for renewable energy - which I support by the way - we cannot allow industrialisation of our coastline to be rushed through.

"It takes years of research to consider the impacts versus benefits."

She also said the undersea cables transmitting electricity produced electromagnetic fields (EMF) which could affect or deter marine life, including whales.

Humpback and Southern Right whales come on close to the shore in this area during their annual migrations, passing near Bass Point then continuing past Kiama when they return with newborn calves in spring.

BlueFloat Energy country manager Nick Sankey said the proposal was in "a very early stage of development" and would have to pass all environmental standards the Australian Government sets for offshore wind farms.

"We will need to work with environmental authorities to obtain all of the environmental approvals that includes .. a very comprehensive environmental impact assessment," he said.

"As part of that assessment we will have an agreed study program and that will include monitoring mammals, including whales, monitoring birds and other wildlife.

"We then need to determine what impact our project will or will not have on [species] in the area.

"It's a very rigorous process we have to go through ... and if we are not able to satisfactorily answer and address any issues then we won't be obtaining the environmental approvals that will allow us to move forward."

He said some evidence from overseas operations suggested that the EMF produced had little effect on marine life.

"We haven't selected cable types but [when we do] we'll be undertaking analysis of whether there are any issues of electromagnetic fields being emitted from those cables, and any impacts on the wildlife," he said.

"Our understanding is that there hasn't been significant impact [overseas]."

The turbines would be up to six deep and would start about 15.8km from shore, with the Crookhaven Lighthouse east of Nowra, and the Gerroa headland, among the closest points on land.

After Kiama Council passed the motion of opposition, Councillor Warren Steel wanted to go further and proposed the council refuse all venue hire to "speculative wind farm development proponents" until the Commonwealth had legislated an offshore wind energy zone. This motion was lost.