Queensland Government shifts towards making renewable energy projects impact assessable

The Queensland Government is delivering on its commitment to require wind farm projects to be impact assessable, making the development application process consistent with other land uses like mining and infrastructure.

The following actions have been taken by the Queensland Government to implement this commitment:

• the Planning (Wind Farms) Amendment Regulation 2025 (Amendment Regulation) makes all development applications for material change of use for wind farms subject to impact assessment;
• amendments to the State code 23: Wind farm development (the Updated Code); and
• the Minister for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning (the Minister) has recently issued a proposed call in notice for the Moonlight Range Wind Farm and temporarily paused three wind farm applications currently under code assessment.

The changes in the Amendment Regulation will result in a broader assessment of wind farm applications and now include the opportunity for community input through public consultation.

The Amendment Regulation is stated to be the first step by the Queensland Government in making all renewable energy projects impact assessable. Renewable energy proponents should therefore be monitoring any further amendments moving forward, and potential impacts to projects.

Planning (Wind Farms) Amendment Regulation 2025

On 3 February 2025, the Amendment Regulation will commence and give effect to the following changes:

• amends the existing provisions under Schedule 10, Part 21, Division 2 of the Planning Regulation 2017; and
• gives effect to the latest version of State code 23: Wind farm development in the State Development Assessment Provisions (SDAP) (version 3.2) in Schedule 24 of the Planning Regulation.

Considerations for renewable energy project proponents

Prior to these amendments, wind farms could be code assessable. Code assessment is a ‘bounded’ assessment, meaning that development is approved if there is a demonstrated ability to comply with, or condition compliance with, the outcomes of the code. Public consultation is not required and third party appeal rights do not apply.

Impact assessable development is the highest level of assessment under Queensland’s planning framework. In addition to the application being assessed against the outcomes of the relevant code, other relevant matters such as social, economic and environmental impacts (not including a person's personal circumstance, financial or otherwise) are considered, thereby involving a far broader assessment.

Previously, wind farm projects have proceeded without mandatory public consultation. By changing the category of assessment to impact assessment, applications for a material change of use for a wind farm will enable community members and other parties to lodge a submission about the proposal which the assessment manager must take into account when determining the application. Submitters who lodge a "properly made submission" have the power to:

• appeal any approval of a development application to the Planning and Environment Court; or
• join an appeal that may be lodged against any refusal of a development application to the Planning and Environment Court.

The explanatory memorandum for the Amendment Regulation also states the Amendment Regulation "is the first step to deliver the Government's commitment to require all renewable energy projects be impact assessable." Renewable energy proponents should therefore be monitoring any further amendments moving forward, and the requirement for future projects to be, by default, impact assessable.

State code 23: Wind farm development

Applications for wind farms are assessed by the State Assessment and Referral Agency (SARA) against the SDAP, State Code 23: Wind farm development. The Amendment Regulation gives effect to version 3.2 of the SDAP, which reflects recent changes made by the Queensland Government to State Code 23: Wind Farm Development (State Code 23). Version 3.2 of the SDAP, which incorporates the updated State Code 23, can be found on SARA's website.

The revised State Code 23 includes additional requirements to enhance the assessment benchmarks for wind farm applications, including:

• revising the purpose statement to:

• • set out minimum parameters of assessment necessary to demonstrate a wind farm can satisfactorily mitigate impacts;
  • require that the siting of wind farms does not result in impacts on individuals, communities and the environment; and
  • require community and Local Government engagement.

• adding new performance outcomes:

• • PO5 – requiring applicants to demonstrate the proposal does not create a significant loss of high-quality agricultural land values;
  • PO17 – requiring applicants to demonstrate how they will manage off-site workforce accommodation impacts to surrounding communities and townships;
  • PO23 – requiring applicants to demonstrate the proposal manage, mitigate and remediate impacts on infrastructure and services;
  • PO26 – requiring applicants to demonstrate the proposal avoids adverse impacts on communities; and
  • PO30 – requiring security to safeguard timely compliance with decommissioning plans.

The Planning guideline – State code 23: Wind farm development has been amended to reflect the above changes to State Code 23.

Direction to temporarily pause deciding three wind farm projects

Giving further effect to the Queensland's Government commitments in relation to wind farms, on 16 January 2025, the Minister directed the Chief Executive of the Planning Act 2016 to suspend the assessment of three undecided wind farm applications for a period of four months, until 16 May 2025.

The applications include a 170 turbine wind farm proposed by Wongalee Energy Farm Pty Ltd, a 175 turbine wind farm proposed by Theodore Energy Development Pty Ltd, and a 204 turbine wind farm proposed by Bungaban Renewable Energy Farm Pty Ltd.

The reasons for the direction include, relevantly:

• the proposed developments involve or are likely to involve, the State interests articulated in the relevant regional plans and the State Planning Policy;
• each of the proposed developments would also involve ancillary infrastructure and substantial clearing. More specifically:

• • extensive clearing of native vegetation for all projects, including clearing for the Wongalee wind farm in the order of 2172 ha, clearing for the Theodore wind farm in the order of 1932 ha and clearing for the Bungaban wind farm in the order of 6.7 ha; and
  • the haulage of construction materials and wind farm infrastructure across Queensland’s transport network;

• currently, the applications are subject to code assessment under the Planning Act and do not require public notification; and
• each of the developments are complex and significant projects in relation to their respective potential social, economic and environmental impacts.

Given the complexity and significance of each project, the Minister has stated that he considers that each application requires proper assessment under the Planning Act, including but not limited to, relevant infrastructure, environmental and community considerations.

In recent Queensland Government media releases and publications, the purpose of the direction is stated as to allow the proponents of these projects to demonstrate that appropriate community consultation and impact assessment has been undertaken.

Proposed call in notice for the Moonlight Range Wind Farm

On 3 January 2025, the Minister gave notice that he was proposing to call in a development application for the Moonlight Range Wind Farm being co-developed by Greenleaf Renewables (Australia) and the renewable energy arm of Brookfield Asset Management (Canada). The estimated $1 billion 450 megawatt project, located 40km west of Rockhampton, will consist of up to 88 wind turbine generators and ancillary infrastructure including a battery energy storage system (BESS).

The application for the proposed development was code assessable without the requirement for public notification, and approved by the Department on 5 December 2024. The Minister is seeking submissions from the proponent, community and other interested parties about whether the proposed development qualifies as a state interest and should be re-assessed. The period for making submissions is 40 business days, closing on 14 March 2025.

In the proposed call-in notice, the Minister has stated that the application involves, or is likely to involve, State interests such as planning for economic growth, development and construction issues, energy and water supply, biodiversity concerns, and issues associated with liveable communities.

If the Minister decides to formally issue a call in notice for the application, the process for assessing and deciding the application will restart at the start of the confirmation period in the application stage. The Minister has stated in the notice that he does not intend to direct the original decision-maker to reassess all or part of the application, but instead step in the shoes of the original decision-maker.

Ministerial call-ins are used only in exceptional circumstances.

Since 2020, there have only been four proposed call-ins, including the proposed call-in for the Moonlight Range Wind Farm. Two out of these four projects have been called in to be reassessed and redecided by the Minister.