“BlueFloat Energy continues to believe that offshore wind offers a strategic opportunity for New Zealand, in terms of both decarbonisation and economic development.
“However, our decision to cease developments here reflects a number of key uncertainties about how the market for offshore wind will develop in the country — including both route to market and allocation of seabed,” he said.
“We encourage the New Zealand Government to continue its efforts to establish an enabling regulatory regime for offshore wind and to support the industry in overcoming these uncertainties,” he said.
BlueFloat — a Spanish firm — has been in New Zealand for three years.
The company, in sizing up its prospects in New Zealand, has in the past said wind power generation off the Taranaki and Waikato coasts could become a reality within a decade.
As a developer, BlueFloat identifies new projects and puts them through the permitting and consenting process.
An engineering phase follows before the final investment decision is reached, which marks the beginning of construction.
BlueFloat — owned by US green energy investor 547 Energy — is one of a handful of companies to have looked into wind power possibilities off the coast.
The New Zealand Super Fund has teamed up with Denmark’s Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), and the pair are looking to bring large-scale offshore wind power generation to South Taranaki.
The partnership said it would not follow BlueFloat’s lead.
“BlueFloat’s decision to cease work on its two proposed offshore wind farms in Taranaki and Waikato reflects the complexity of the challenges that New Zealand needs to address to enable the development of offshore wind here, including the finalisation of an appropriate regulatory framework, strategic planning around enabling infrastructure, and balancing competing demands from other industries,” it said.
The parternship acknowledged the work BlueFloat had done to date.
“For our part, Taranaki Offshore Partnership remains committed to continuing our feasibility investigations in New Zealand, leveraging our JV partners’ track record of developing and delivering offshore wind farms globally and access to capital,” it said.
Inflation has hit some overseas offshore wind projects hard, but CIP said in March that it was confident the industry could weather the storm.
The fund and CIP formed a partnership in 2022 to explore the potential for large-scale offshore wind energy in the South Taranaki Bight.
The project is still gathering data — a process that will take about two years.
While a decision on whether offshore is feasible is still some time away, other projects around the world have run into trouble due to rapidly escalating prices.
Jamie Gray is an Auckland-based journalist, covering the financial markets and the primary sector. He joined the Herald in 2011.
