900 turbines with 2,700 fibreglass blades: Can offshore wind farms be constructed in Gippsland?
“There's quite a lot of components that could be made locally.”
Jacob Wallace
June 05, 2026
The scale of the project is mind-boggling. And it comes with a new dictionary.
To start with, 900 wind turbine towers, each up to about 250 metres tall. Attached to these, at the tip known as the “hub”, 2,700 fibreglass blades, around 100 metres in length. All powered by a “nacelle”.
And the tower itself needs to be locked into place by a transition piece and a monopile, the latter of which is driven up to 50 metres into the seabed.
When construction of this mammoth project is complete, it will play a key role in powering the state. But it’s not only about scale, but the logistics required to bring that scale to reality - the factories, transport and engineering.
The turbines and their underwater supports can weigh between 2,000 and 3,000 tonnes depending on the model, while the main post of the turbines (the tower) can protrude 250 metres out of the ocean with the three rotating blades stretching a further 100 metres into the air.
Offshore wind turbine diagram. Image provided by Star of the South.
It’s due to their size that these towers are so efficient at generating power - one rotation of the turbine can power an average Australian home for 48 hours.
One of Gippsland’s Offshore Wind Zone’s most developed projects, Star of the South, is looking to begin construction of 147 turbines in the Bass Strait in 2030.
The Chief Development Officer for Star of the South, Erin Coldham, told the Gippsland Monitor that the boats used for installation can carry up to three turbines at a time.
She said the boats will take pre-assembled turbine parts to a jack-up vessel, a specialised elevating platform that connects to the seafloor, which then begins constructing the turbines with a crane.
“The foundation gets drilled into the seabed, then a transition piece that connects the foundation to the tower, then you've got the nacelle, which is like the brains on top, and then three blades.”
The transition pieces sticking out of the water. Image provided by Star of the South.
The foundation for a tower can be drilled into place in about two-and-a-half hours.
“It’s pretty quick once they get out there,” Coldham said.
A crucial question hanging over the offshore wind industry in Australia is whether the turbine parts - from the vast towers and blades to the wires, nuts and bolts - will be manufactured locally, elsewhere around Australia or overseas.
What happened: In April, Latrobe City Council unanimously voted to send a submission to the federal government arguing Latrobe Valley should be designated a manufacturing zone for the domestic wind industry.
Councillors pointed to existing transmission tower manufacturing in Morwell as the foundation for a regional supply chain that could redeploy into producing wind farm parts.
Councillor Steph Morgan told the meeting that local supply chains mattered "not just for Latrobe City itself, but for the entirety of Australia".
The federal government held a consultation into manufacturing wind turbines domestically early this year but findings are yet to be released.
Offshore wind farm. Image provided by Star of the South.
Looking locally
Coldham said although there are currently no wind turbine manufacturers in Australia, Star of the South had identified the possibility of constructing steel platforms, walkways, ladders, railings and tubes in the Latrobe Valley.
“There's about 300 tonnes of steel components per turbine that can realistically be made and fabricated in Australia,” Coldham said. “A lot of that [could be done] in the Latrobe Valley.”
Investing locally
Professor Magnus Söderberg from the Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics at Griffith University told the Monitor that it is unrealistic for Australia to manufacture every turbine component.
But one part he said the federal government should look at building locally was the 250 metre tower, which is predominantly made of steel.
Söderberg estimated the towers cost roughly $1.6 million to import from overseas, but $1.9 million to manufacture in Australia.
Söderberg said if the federal government invested and subsidised local manufacturing it would take about six years to become price competitive with the rest of the world.
Coldham agreed, saying that although Australia doesn’t currently have the capability to roll the steel required for the towers, an investment in those equipment and manufacturing capabilities would make Australia more competitive.