Federal authorities have approved 51 renewable energy projects since the last election to add to the electricity grid and prepare for the closure of coal-fired power stations amid a growing political row about the need for new capacity to avoid future shortages.
Energy investors want faster approvals by state governments, especially NSW, as well as the rapid construction of new power lines so the grid can carry renewable energy from Squadron Energy chief executive Rob Wheals, whose projects include the giant Uungula Wind Farm near Wellington in NSW, said one problem was the lack of central co-ordination in the NSW state system.“In order to speed up the rollout of renewable energy projects, governments, both state and federal, should focus on land access, grid capacity and streamlining the involvement of multiple agencies in the approvals process,” he said.
Acciona Energy, whose MacIntyre wind farm in Queensland is one of the world’s biggest, said big new projects needed approval to take the place of others that were being scaled back or shelved. According to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, it takes 27 months on average for a project to move from planning and approval under the EPBC to coming online.