Project overview
Star of the South is proposed to be located off the south coast of Gippsland in Victoria. We’re in the project development phase, seeking approvals to bring offshore wind online around 2030.
Powering homes across the state
Star of the South is an up to 2.2 GW project that would power around 1.2 million homes, create up to 6,000 Australian jobs across its life and invest billions in the local economy.
Star of the South has secured a feasibility licence to continue developing the project. A feasibility licence allows projects to undertake onsite activities and assess the feasibility of an offshore wind project.
It typically takes around 6 - 10 years to develop an offshore wind project.
If we receive all the necessary approvals and licences, we’re aiming to start construction towards the end of the decade to support Victoria’s 2 GW by 2032 offshore wind energy target.
An Environmental Impact Assessment is being prepared and this will be made publicly available for review and comment when complete.
Designing the wind farm
A well-designed wind farm catches more wind to generate electricity.
A design for Star of the South will be developed over several years, considering:
wind conditions
seabed conditions
the environment
future energy needs
other users of the sea
existing infrastructure
safety, regulations and requirements.
Electricity transmission
A transmission system of cables and substations will connect the offshore wind farm to the grid.
VicGrid is the government agency responsible for delivering new transmission infrastructure.
With multiple offshore wind projects proposed in Gippsland, VicGrid is developing shared transmission for projects to connect in to.
We’ve been working on a transmission system for Star of the South since 2019, including undertaking environmental, technical and land investigations along the proposed route. A lot has changed since we started this work.
VicGrid released a study area for a shared transmission system in Gippsland in March 2024. We're reviewing this information now to understand what it means for Star of the South.
Ports
Ports play an important role in offshore wind project construction and operations – this is where a lot of the action happens.
We’ve been investigating port options for Star of the South.
Construction ports need to have deep water with suitable facilities and available land. We expect to use multiple ports during construction, and we're looking at a range of options that could support the project.
Barry Beach Marine Terminal and Port Anthony are both good options to host our Gippsland Operations Base, where workers managing day-to-day wind farm construction and operations activities would be based – creating around 200 long-term local jobs over more than 30 years.