Victoria’s plans for its first offshore wind farm have hit a serious setback with federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek rejecting plans for a key terminal at the Port of Hastings, south of Melbourne. She says it could cause “irreversible harm” to local marine, bird, and plant life. The area off the coast of Gippsland has already been declared the country’s first zone for offshore wind generators with most of the turbines meant to be set up about 20km off the coast. But without a port as a base for the operation, the project can’t proceed. Plibersek’s intervention has thrown a spanner in the works for Victoria to reach its target of 95% renewables by 2035. But the state’s Environment Minister Steve Dimopoulos says they will “digest the results of the decision and we’ll make [a decision] in relation to the next step.”