Newly announced efforts to fast track renewable energy in Victoria

By Meg Lee and Richard Goodlad

The Victorian Government has recently announced changes to Victoria’s land and planning regulations to promote the development of Victoria’s renewable energy industry.

Offshore wind developers will be able to obtain tenure over public land for the purpose of investigating the suitable placement of offshore electricity infrastructure under a new Bill introduced into Parliament on 5 March 2024 by the Victorian Energy and Resources Minister. Since then, on 14 March 2024, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan announced that renewable energy projects will be eligible for an accelerated planning pathway under the Development Facilitation Program (DFP).

These changes are aimed at making approvals for renewable energy projects much faster and also building up Victoria’s offshore wind industry. The Government has flagged these changes as critical for the delivery of 95% renewable energy generation by 2035 and net zero by 2040.

New tenure options for offshore wind developers

The Energy and Public Land Legislation Amendment (Enabling Offshore Wind Energy) Bill 2024 (Bill) will amend the Land Act 1958 , the Crown Land (Reserves) Act 1978, the Forests Act 1958, the National Parks Act 1975 (Land Acts) and the Electricity Industry Act 2000 (Electricity Industry Act). The introduction of the Bill follows Victoria’s recently legislated offshore wind energy targets of at least 2GW by 2032, 4GW by 2035 and 9GW by 2040.

While offshore wind farms will be located in Commonwealth waters, offshore wind connection infrastructure, such as transmission cables, will traverse public land currently managed across different Victorian Acts. Simplifying the licences related to these different Acts will enable proponents to undertake investigations and assess the feasibility of proposed projects in Victorian waters more easily.

Key changes for offshore wind developers

The Bill will result in the creation of a new category of licence through its amendments to the Land Acts. The Electricity Industry Act will be amended to enable the declaration of an entity as an ‘offshore wind generation company’. This new licence category will allow offshore wind proponents to access public land up to three nautical miles from the coast.  These exploratory licences can be granted for a period up to a maximum of 21 years.

The land that will be able to be accessed by licensees includes any Victorian public or Crown land, including marine national parks and State parks. These various types of State land are currently governed under multiple different Acts, and the Bill will amend each to ensure consistency across the different types of public land. For instance, proponents will be able to engage with the Minister under the Land Act or Parks Victoria under the National Parks Act to gain access to land covered by those Acts.

The Bill will also streamline the process for applying for these licences, with existing provisions that currently require a public hearing under the Land Act being repealed to expedite land transactions. In deciding whether or not to grant a licence, the relevant decision maker will be required to consider:

• whether or not the applicant for a Victorian licence is the holder of a licence under the Commonwealth Offshore Electricity Infrastructure Act 2021;
• whether granting the Victorian licence would contribute to achieving a Victorian offshore wind energy target or renewable energy generation target; and
• any other matters that the Minister or delegate considers relevant – these might include the period of time the applicant wishes to access the land and any known environmental or cultural heritage considerations.

While the process will be streamlined, proponents will still be required to gain relevant consents and agreements under any other relevant legislation, such as the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) and potentially be assessed under the Environmental Effects Act 1978 (Vic).

The Bill is currently at second reading stage in the legislative assembly. Once approved, it will be sent to the legislative council for review.

Streamlined planning approvals for renewable energy projects

The Government has also announced plans to expedite the planning pathway for renewable energy projects. The Government has flagged that around $90 billion worth of renewable energy projects are currently ‘stuck’ in VCAT, not being built. It also follows the release of the Clean Energy Council’s 2024 Report, which marks investment in generation at $1.5 billion in 2023, down from $6.5 billion in 2022.

The change will result in all renewable energy projects in Victoria being treated as ‘significant economic development’ under Clause 53.22 of the planning scheme. This change piggybacks off Victoria’s Development Facilitation Program (DFP), which is an accelerated pathway for priority projects. The ‘significant economic development’ clause aims to prioritise the planning, assessment and delivery of projects that will make a significant contribution to Victoria’s economy. It is proposed that renewable projects that are already currently in the application process will move across to the DFP process. The Government expects that freeing up the backlog of renewable projects that are currently in the pipeline will result in 15,000 jobs.

The existing DFP assessment process involves two phases. First, the application must be lodged and endorsed by the Development Facilitation Program Standing Advisory Committee (DFPSAC). The endorsement process can take some time as the DFP team and DFPSAC review the application materials and can request further information and potentially requirements for further consultation with referral authorities and Councils. Once it has been endorsed and formally lodged, this is when the four-month period to decision begins.

Under this accelerated pathway, the planning panel process and third-party appeals at VCAT are removed. Decisions are made by the Minister for Planning using the s20(4) of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 (Vic) process, which is where third party rights of review are removed by the legislation. Clause 53.22-4 also clearly states that an application under the clause is exempt from the decision requirements of sections 64(1), (2) and (3) (being the requirement to notify objectors of the decision), and the objector review rights of sections 82(1) of the Act.

Decisions will be able to be made in as little as four months and will be handled by a dedicated facilitation team. The dedicated team will be involved with the ongoing monitoring of approvals, aimed at identifying hurdles for projects earlier in the process. While third-party objections can still be made, without the associated appeal rights, the changes aim to significantly reduce the time-frame from application to final grant of approvals and commencement of projects.

Importantly, if a project requires an Environmental Effects Statement (EES), then it is ineligible for the process. This should bring some comfort to communities and environmental groups that projects in sensitive areas that trigger a referral under the EES regime will still be subject to third party submissions and a public inquiry hearing if necessary.

Insights and what this means for the renewable energy industry

The Victorian Government has clearly had some recent set-backs in its roll-out of renewable energy projects, with the Commonwealth decision to refuse the Hastings Renewable Energy hub, so this package seeks to assist the industry and thereby still meet its Net Zero targets. The Victorian Government is targeting a 65 per cent renewables share of the grid by 2030 and 95 per cent by 2035, but is currently sitting at just under 40 per cent. A recent Clean Energy Australia Report shows that of the 22 large scale solar and wind projects completed in 2023, only 4 were in Victoria.

The Clean Energy Council has welcomed the changes’; however, rural communities, including some council mayors[1], have responded with anger about losing their appeal rights, claiming that the four-month period is insufficient to enable meaningful consultation.

The benefit of the fast-track process may only end up being of utility to smaller projects due to the fact that many larger scale projects will likely trigger the EES process, for example, if there is removal of 10ha or more native vegetation or impacts to RAMSAR wetlands. This may therefore undermine much of the efficiency gained by the DFP process for those projects, given that preparation of an EES and associated Technical Reference Group (TRG) processes and Public Inquiry hearings can take upwards of three years from Referral stage. It may be that the guidelines, and indeed the TRG process for EES assessments, also need to be reviewed and better streamlined to avoid delays in major renewable projects and achievement of Net Zero targets.