Within six years the Federal Government wants to massively increase the share of renewables in Australia’s power grid from about 32 per cent to 82 per cent. But new analysis has found in one state it's taking roughly 10 years to approve a single wind farm.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00 Well, this report has been conducted by law firm Herbert Smith Freehills and the Clean
00:07 Energy Investor Group.
00:08 And what they've done is analysed five years' worth of data from New South Wales, the most
00:12 populous state, to find out the average approval timeframes for a large-scale renewable energy
00:18 project.
00:19 So basically, how long it's taking the department to plan, I mean, to approve wind, solar and
00:24 battery projects.
00:25 And the numbers are big.
00:27 For a wind farm, the analysis says it's taking 3,488 days on average.
00:33 For solar farms, it's 705 days.
00:36 And for batteries, it's 530 days.
00:38 Now, this is just the red tape, the approvals process.
00:42 It doesn't take into account how long it takes for developers to do the pre-planning work
00:46 or how long it takes to actually build these projects.
00:49 So speaking to a lot of renewable developers, New South Wales, according to them, is regarded
00:54 as the most difficult state to get these kinds of projects off the ground.
00:59 The planning rules there are described as cumbersome and confusing.
01:03 And a lot of them now are turning their attention to Queensland, which still has a state-owned
01:07 electricity network and where the planning rules are considered a lot clearer.
01:11 Now, the Commonwealth hasn't escaped criticism in this analysis.
01:16 According to the report, federal bureaucrats are taking up to three years to assess a project
01:20 against federal environmental laws.
01:22 Now, given we are in this once in a century energy transformation, the Clean Energy Investor
01:28 Group has described these delays as unacceptable and basically slowing the pace of the energy
01:35 transition.
01:36 Now, in a statement, New South Wales says it has cut assessment timeframes for new projects
01:42 by 60% since 2016.
01:45 And it notes that industry has a role to play too.
01:48 Of the 93 large-scale wind and solar farms that it has actually approved, 55 of them
01:54 are still not operating.
01:56 So what this kind of shows us, the picture this is painting, is that at the moment, there
02:00 is a bit of a gulf between ambition, we have governments with ambitious climate and renewable
02:05 energy targets, and the reality of what's actually happening on the ground.
02:08 Well, the Clean Energy Investor Group reckons that there is a very simple fix.
02:12 You can fast-track approvals for wind, solar, hydro and battery projects by declaring them
02:17 as critical infrastructure.
02:18 Now, states already have these laws and generally apply them to big projects like new highways,
02:25 new mines and new ports.
02:28 The investor group is saying that using that same law, the same declaration, would help
02:34 basically get this transition back on track.
02:36 And given that we are undergoing this huge transformation right now, the investor group
02:43 is saying by elevating the importance of new renewable generation, it will help ensure
02:47 that we actually can keep the lights on as coal-fired power stations close.
02:51 [BLANK_AUDIO]