WOBO appreciates the information and support provided by the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB ) and Create Digital

These are the world’s 5 largest offshore wind farms

Dozens of countries, many in Europe, boast at least one offshore wind farm, but Australia is yet to join them.

The world’s first offshore wind farm was commissioned in 1991, off the coast of Denmark.

Named Vindeby, the facility consisted of just 11 turbines producing a nameplate capacity of around 5 MW. With a rotor diameter of 35 m, the turbines of Vindeby would be dwarfed by modern turbines.

Australia’s most advanced offshore wind project, Star of the South, with a projected top capacity of 2.2 GW, was awarded a Commonwealth Exploration Licence in 2019 and achieved major project status in 2023.

Just last month, an engagement agreement was signed with Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation, ensuring the Gunaikurnai people remain involved in discussions throughout the course of the project.

So how will Star of the South match up to the biggest global examples?

When controlled destruction goes wrong

Explosives are efficient, but when things turns awry, the consequences can be catastrophic.

Modern demolition trades drama for discipline, with engineers applying rigorous calculations to ensure safe and predictable structural collapses.

In 1970s Britain, Lancashire steeplejack Fred Dibnah’s chimney-top feats became engineering folklore. Renowned for his expertise in dismantling tall, Victorian-era industrial chimneys, Dibnah’s demolition method involved carefully cutting a wedge-shaped opening, or “mouth”, at the base of the chimney. He would then support the remaining structure above the cut using wooden props.

To bring the chimney down, Dibnah would light a fire beneath it, gradually burning away the wooden supports. Once the props gave way, the chimney would collapse – ideally in a controlled direction.

Wearing no harness, Dibnah stood above crowds of spectators, and was awarded an OBE for his efforts. His exploits are still talked about in industry today, according to Will Neethling TFIEAust CEngT, Engineers Australia Engineering Technologist Fellow and Director of engineering consulting company De-Consult.

Cleaner clinker from concrete manufacturing

How this cement facility slashes emissions with innovative engineering

This chlorine bypass system promises to reduce Scope 1 emissions A chlorine bypass system at Berrima Cement Works will double the use of alternative fuels at the plant over the next three years, reducing its carbon emissions by up to 75,000 t annually.

Boral’s Berrima Cement Works supplies approximately 40 per cent of the cement used in NSW and the ACT, making it a critical asset in Australia’s construction industry.

The technology behind a chlorine bypass, commissioned in 2024, will enable the firm to meet its decarbonisation targets and reduce its reliance on emissions-intensive fuels such as coal, driving smarter, cleaner cement manufacturing.

The integration of the chlorine bypass will allow the cement works to increase its use of alternative fuels to 60 per cent by 2026. Additionally, the system contributes to a reduction in the emissions intensity of clinker production by up to 11 per cent due to decreased calcination emissions and some improved thermal efficiency.

Engineering that looks like science fiction

Every so often, engineers unveil a structure that looks more like it belongs in Star Wars or Dune than the real world. Here are eight of the most visually impressive examples.

Mechanical engineer Hannah Talebi didn’t expect her Australian career to begin on a chocolate factory floor. That unexpected start became the foundation for her rise to design leadership in the water industry. As told to Chloe Hava

When I moved to Australia from Iran almost a decade ago, I’d already studied mechanical engineering and worked briefly in the automotive industry, gaining a strong foundation in mechanical design, compliance and production support. I was eager to explore new challenges in a different setting and see what I was capable of.

But navigating the local job market was far from easy. One of the biggest hurdles was not having a network. In Australia’s engineering sector, so much depends on who you know. As a migrant, you arrive without those connections, which can be incredibly isolating.

I faced the double challenge of being both a woman and migrant engineer. Many women end up leaving engineering altogether, either at university or once in the workplace, because it can be a difficult environment to thrive in.

At the highest echelons, I can think of few female leaders and even fewer migrant leaders. While diversity may appear to exist on the surface, it tends to disappear at executive level.

“I couldn’t imagine working anywhere else”

Engineers like Ray Daly are work hard to protect the Sydney Harbour Bridge from challenging coastal conditions – and innovative maintenance techniques are involved.

Engineers like Ray Daly are working hard to prepare the Sydney Harbour Bridge for its centenary in 2032 – and some innovative maintenance techniques are involved.

Thousands of commuters pass over the Sydney Harbour Bridge every day, but how many spare a thought for the engineers tasked with maintaining it?

Ninety-plus years on, one of the country’s most photographed structures survives because people show up. Not with gadgets, but with planning windows, containment, careful blasting, and coats counted one by one.

As the bridge’s centenary in 2032 approaches, the lesson stays the same: smart engineering isn’t always doing something new. Sometimes, it’s about doing the right things, the right way, for a very long time.

Revisit the bridge’s construction, 100 years on, in this on-demand webinar from Engineers Australia.

Hydrogen fuel cell pilot secures off-grid telecom sites

The Engineers Australia Project of the Year is bringing zero-emissions energy to Victoria.

An award-winning hydrogen fuel cell generator project is bringing zero-emissions energy to remote Victoria.

For engineers installing energy generators at telecommunications sites across Australia, diesel theft is a risk to manage.

“The problem’s more common than you might think,” said Sam Rowe, Engineering Manager at Energys, the company who claimed Project of the Year at the 2025 Engineers Australia Excellence Awards. “There are people who enter unmanned sites and siphon off the diesel for their own use.”

Energys has been responsible for Australia’s first commercial deployment of 10 kW hydrogen fuel cell generators across five remote telecommunications sites in Victoria. The award-winning project replaced existing diesel generators with hydrogen fuel cells – eliminating the risk of diesel theft while also bringing decarbonisation gains.

Inside the largest all-electric vehicle ever made

Engineers have reimagined the high-speed ferry – manufacturing it right here in Australia.

Built in Tasmania, on the banks of the Derwent, engineers have reimagined what a high-speed ferry can be, inspiring a new era in marine electrification.

In May 2025, crowds lined the Hobart waterfront, craning for a glimpse, as a shiny new passenger ferry slipped gracefully into the water. But this was no ordinary vessel. This was Hull 096 – the latest commission of Hobart-based Incat, long-time builders of lightweight, high-speed aluminium catamarans.

It’s also the world’s largest battery-electric ship.

At 130 m long, Hull 096 is, as Incat CEO Stephen Casey declared, “the largest electric vehicle of any kind ever built, and one of the most significant single export items in Australia’s manufacturing history”.

Where four dual-fuel LNG engines might normally thunder away, the ship hums silently on pure battery power. In dispensing with combustion altogether, Incat’s engineers have reimagined what a high-speed ferry can be – clean, quiet and uncompromisingly modern.

Commissioned by South American ferry giant Buquebus, Hull 096 will carry 2100 passengers and 225 vehicles across the River Plate, between Buenos Aires in Argentina and Colonia in Uruguay, turning a workhorse commuter route into a showcase for maritime innovation.

Australian-first groundwater replenishment scheme

Perth engineers non-climate dependent water solution to bolster the state’s supply. Perth engineers have reached a new milestone with their non-climate dependent water solution that bolsters the state’s supply.Groundwater replenishment currently makes up 5 per cent of Western Australia’s Integrated Water Supply Scheme.In 2022, engineers in Perth unveiled the country’s first ever full-scale groundwater replenishment scheme to help address growing water demand in a warming climate.And this year, the scheme reached a major milestone, with 100 billion L of purified recycled water recharged into climate-impacted groundwater aquifers.With the state’s Water Corporation aiming to achieve a recycled wastewater target of 35 per cent by 2035, let’s take a look at the innovative approach to water management.

Local engineering lauded on international stage

North East Link was among the projects celebrated at a recent digital engineering gala.

Freeway projects in Sydney and Melbourne, and a substation renewal in Perth, were among the infrastructure projects celebrated internationally at the Going Digital Awards hosted by engineering software provider Bentley Systems.

Announced at the gala dinner that culminated Bentley’s Year in Infrastructure 2025 conference, the Australian projects were recognised as finalists in the Construction, Roads and Highways, and Transmission and Distribution categories.

Held this year in Amsterdam, the Bentley Going Digital Awards celebrate digital advancements in infrastructure across 12 categories, with nominations coming from close to 250 projects representing 47 countries.