Australia has emerged as one of the world's leading economies in recent years and will continue to be so for decades to come. Both in terms of resources and policy, it has a strong case for becoming a country to be reckoned with. In the energy sector, it has also turned its economy around, which was based for so many years on coal. Now, they are committed to developing renewable energies and, as a result, improving the transmission networks linked to this technology. The Australian government has made a strong commitment to solar, wind, batteries and even hydrogen as a way of phasing out coal-fired power stations.

Turning the focus to the wind sector, the country is seeing its onshore wind resource running out. This is due both to space restrictions (the population and old local communities –known there as ‘first nations’– are not in favour of giving up much more space to the sector), and to the resource itself (limited to very specific areas and other areas that do not have enough population centres to make it viable).

That is why governments and states are looking at the sea. Offshore wind technology is tried and tested in Europe and close to large population centres in Australia, making it an attractive technology for the Australian government to invest in. In this respect, they have plans for both fixed wind (more advanced) and floating wind (long term) projects.

That is why the Basque Energy Cluster, together with six Basque companies, organised a mission to the other side of the globe with the intention of learning first-hand about the government's plans with regard to the sector and sounding out the large companies with a presence in the country that will have to take on these future projects. The six companies involved (ALERION, DITREL, HINE, HWS, LIFTRA and SAITEC) represented the potential of the Basque industrial sector, with 150 companies active in the wind energy sector, for the opportunities that Australia has to offer.

As a representative of these 150 companies, the Basque Energy Cluster and the delegation were able to showcase their capabilities at meetings in Melbourne with major developers such as GPG (Naturgy), BlueFloat, Ocean Winds and Iberdrola. The delegation held meetings with these four companies to discuss possible collaborations and the future development of wind farms in the country by them.

The delegation also held meetings with Australian government entities, which outlined their plans for developing both onshore and offshore wind, and electricity transmission networks to support these technologies. The plans outlined by the government for offshore wind and the targets they have set for the next few years (they want to start building their first 2 GW by the end of 2026) were surprisingly quick and clear.

Everyone there is aware that they will need skilled personnel and companies from other countries to achieve their goals, but like everyone else, they prefer development to be done locally.
It should be noted that the mission was organised within the framework of Australia Wind Energy, and the delegation was able to talk to companies that are already active in the wind energy sector there and have individual meetings that were of greater self-interest. In addition, Saitec will be one of the speakers at the conference.

Finally, part of the delegation travelled to Sydney, where the New South Wales region is also planning to develop offshore wind, but in this case, it will have to be floating due to the depth of the offshore platform. A meeting was arranged with the port of Newcastle, which was interested in investing in this technology, but with a longer term view and a more uncertain plan. Whatever the case, the port will be able to consider the support and experience offered by Basque companies in the future.