A not so mighty wind: NSW lags in renewable energy approvals

The approvals process for new renewable projects, particularly wind farms, in NSW is the slowest and most expensive in the national energy market despite looming energy shortages causing the Minns government to commit up to $450 million toWind energy proponents have told global energy consultancy Rystad Energy that the process for securing approvals in NSW was slower, more complicated and more expensive than in other states, said David Dixon, a senior analyst with the company.

“It is ridiculous how long it is taking these new projects to get through the approvals process. If there is a legitimate reason for a wind farm not to be built in an area, then we should acknowledge that and move on, but there is no reason for it to take five years to come to a decision.” Bashir said the gap could be addressed by speeding up the approvals process for renewables projects already in the system.“Delaying the closure of ageing coal-fired power stations, such as Eraring, to shore up power supply reliability in the near term will result in higher costs and emissions over the long term. The better approach would be to accelerate the rate at which we deploy new clean energy resources,” said that report.

Rystad’s David Dixon said delays in NSW have been getting worse over the past few years, even as the state government legislated“Five or six years ago when there was a boom in Australia the development application time was anything from six months to 18 months. Nowadays, the wind farms in NSW that actually get through take up to five years, and there are not many getting through.”

“Historically, the NSW assessment of renewable energy projects has been slower than we would want or what was needed to achieve our renewable energy ambitions. When Yanco Delta wind farm was approved last year, it was the first wind farm to be approved in NSW in nearly three years.” “While there are 13 projects currently being constructed, there are 40 projects totalling more than 7770MW which have been approved but yet to commence construction.

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