As of Monday 3 February 2025, all wind farms in Queensland will be subject to impact assessable development as a result of legislative changes pushed through on Friday 31 January 2025.
This means that all wind farms will now be required to undertake thorough impact assessment and public consultation as part of the development approval process, and any approvals issued may be the subject of third-party merits appeals to the Planning & Environment Court. The same fate will likely face all renewable energy projects in Queensland under further expected reforms.
Background
Assessment requirements
In Queensland, development requiring approval can either be assessed as ‘code’ or ‘impact’ under the Planning Act 2016 (Qld).
- ‘Code assessment’ is a bounded assessment, can usually be completed in 4 to 6 months and does not involve public notification and third-party submission and appeal rights. Generally, code assessable development applications which comply will all relevant assessment benchmarks for the development must be approved.
- ‘Impact assessment’ is more rigorous, can often take up to 12 months to complete, involves public notification and entitles any third party to make submissions about the proposed development and appeal the development approval (if granted) to the Queensland Planning & Environment Court. Typically, appeals can take at least a further 12 to 18 months to resolve and any issued development approval will not be in effect during this time (i.e. the developer cannot progress the development while an appeal is on foot). There is also more flexibility and discretion for the decision-maker about whether to approve an impact assessable development application.
Up until 3 February 2025, wind farms which met certain requirements about turbine locations (which most developers designed a project to meet) were subject to code assessment by the State Assessment and Referral Agency (SARA) against the State Development Assessment Provisions (SDAP) State Code 23: Wind Farm Development (SDAP 23).
Change in Government
In September 2024, before the former Miles Government went into caretaker mode, a Draft Renewables Regulatory Framework was released for consultation to consider how, among other things, environmental outcomes, community participation and landholder protections could be improved for renewable energy projects in Queensland.
The (now elected) Crisafulli Government took a commitment to the election in October 2024 that all renewable energy projects would become impact assessable with approval processes consistent with other land uses like mining and agriculture, so that local councils and communities in which projects are located could be thoroughly consulted. In December 2024, the Crisafulli Government revised the Draft Renewables Regulatory Framework and extended consultation to 1 February 2025.
In January 2025:
- one wind farm that was approved in December 2024 was issued a proposed Ministerial call-in notice (which, if actually called-in, will allow the Minister for Planning to re-assess and re-decide the project); and
- Ministerial directions were issued to ‘pause’ the assessment process for 4 months for 3 other wind farms undergoing assessment against SDAP 23 (to allow the Minister to determine next steps for the assessment of those projects, including a potential Ministerial call-in).
The surprise legislative amendments
On 31 January 2025, the Deputy Premier (who is also the Minister for Planning) announced the making of the Planning (Wind Farms) Amendment Regulation 2025 (Qld) (Amendment Regulation). The amendments state that, as of 3 February 2025, wind farms are subject to impact assessment by SARA, with one of the assessment benchmarks being a revised version of SDAP 23.
The Amendment Regulation itself is short and simple, however the explanatory notes that accompanied it indicate that impact assessment will apply to any new wind farm application or ‘other change’ to an existing wind farm approval from 3 February 2025, but not to a ‘minor change’ to an existing wind farm approval from 3 February 2025.
Changes to SDAP 23
The revisions to SDAP 23 (version 3.2) include changes to the purpose statement and how the code is to be used, to align with impact assessment and better reflect the Government’s policy commitment. To this end, the purpose of SDAP 23 is now to:
- set out the minimum parameters of assessment necessary to demonstrate that a wind farm development can satisfactorily mitigate any unacceptable adverse impacts on individuals, communities and the environment;
- ensure that the impacts arising from the design, siting (including proximity to sensitive land uses), construction, operation and decommissioning of wind farms do not result in unacceptable adverse impacts on individuals, communities and the environment; and
- ensure the assessment of wind farm developments must be informed by community and local government engagement.
A number of new performance outcomes have also been added, which we have set out below (including some additional guidance from the Planning Guideline for SDAP 23 (Guideline)).
PO requirement
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Additional guidance
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Example
uses 2
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PO5
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Development is located and designed to ensure that there is no significant loss of high-quality agricultural land values. |
Applicants are required to prepare and submit an Agricultural Land Assessment Report that demonstrates the proposal does not result in a significant loss of high-quality agricultural land values over the site. The Guideline outlines what the report should include. |
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PO17
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Off-site workforce accommodation associated with the construction of the wind farm, does not result in adverse impacts on surrounding communities and townships, such as overburdening services, housing supply and community facilities. Note the pre-existing PO16 – which deals with on-site workforce accommodation – remains, but “overburdening services and community facilities” has been added as an example of adverse impacts on surrounding communities and townships. |
All wind farm applications need to be accompanied by a Workforce Accommodation and Infrastructure Report which outlines the proposed workforce accommodation strategy and an assessment of its impacts to demonstrate compliance with PO16 and PO17. The Guideline outlines what the report should include and notes that preparation of the report should draw on the Queensland Government’s ‘Social Impact Assessment Guideline’ (March 2018) and ‘Supplementary material for assessing and managing the social impacts of projects under the Coordinator-General’s Social Impact Assessment Guideline’ (28 November 2023). Development approvals (if issued) are expected to contain conditions requiring the implementation of mitigation measures outlined in the report in accordance with identified timings and thresholds. |
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PO23
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The impacts of the development on infrastructure and services including social infrastructure, communications networks and essential infrastructure are identified, and measures to manage, mitigate and remediate any impacts are undertaken:
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The Workforce Accommodation and Infrastructure Report mentioned above is the same report used to demonstrate compliance with PO23, and should contain additional information demonstrating compliance with PO23, as outlined in the Guideline. Development approvals (if issued) are expected to contain conditions requiring the implementation of mitigation measures outlined in the report in accordance with identified timings and thresholds. |
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PO26
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Impacts on communities and individuals are identified, addressed and mitigated to avoid any adverse impacts. |
All wind farm applications need to prepare and submit a Community Engagement Report to demonstrate compliance with PO26. The Guideline outlines what the report should include (e.g. analysis of key stakeholders, details of all pre-lodgement engagement activities, how stakeholder feedback and issues have been or will be addressed and views from local councils). The report should also give consideration to the Queensland Government’s ‘Social Impact Assessment Guideline’ (March 2018) and ‘Supplementary material for assessing and managing the social impacts of projects under the Coordinator-General’s Social Impact Assessment Guideline’ (28 November 2023). Development approvals (if issued) may contain conditions requiring the implementation of aspects of the report, and a Complaint Investigation and Response Plan is expected to be required by conditions. |
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PO30
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Decommissioning plans are secured by bonds or financial guarantees or other mechanism/s to safeguard timely compliance. |
Applicants are required to provide a Decommissioning Security Report which needs to provide evidence of the proposed financial security (bonds, financial guarantees or similar) that will ensure timely compliance of decommissioning at end of construction and at end of operations - at no cost to landowners or the government. Development approvals (if issued) are expected to contain conditions requiring the implementation of the proposed financial securities to underpin end of construction and end of operations decommissioning. |
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What happens next?
The change to impact assessment for all wind farms in Queensland will have significant implications for renewable energy developers going forward, including in relation to the economic viability and risk profile of projects.
Wind farm projects
Developers of proposed wind farm projects in Queensland that have not yet made a development application should:
- carefully consider the new SDAP 23 requirements and ensure applications can meet these new standards prior to submission (which may involve undertaking additional assessment and consultation than has already occurred or was planned to occur); and
- factor in the risk of third-party submissions and appeals into project timeframes and budgets, noting any person can make a submission and bring an appeal (i.e. there is no requirement for that person to have standing).
Other renewable energy projects
The Crisafulli Government has also flagged further reforms that “will focus on making other renewable energy projects impact assessable, such as large-scale solar farm developments, as well as introducing a community benefit framework for renewable energy developments that is similar to the requirements that other major development projects deliver in regional communities”.
We expect to see these further reforms unfold throughout 2025, particularly as the Government works to finalise its new Renewables Regulatory Framework following the consultation that closed on 1 February 2025.
Developers of other renewable energy projects should closely monitor the reforms and start building impact assessment and third-party challenge risks into project planning.
If you would like further advice or assistance in responding to these changes, please get in touch.