Energy Transition and Community Engagement: The case of NSW, Australia

Using renewable energy sources is not a new phenomenon in Australia. In 2023, 39.4% of the country’s total electricity generation came from renewable energy sources with NSW the highest user of renewables in Australian states in terms of megawatts (Clean Energy Council, 2024). Using more renewable sources for energy became a priority in Australia and many other parties involved in “The Paris Agreement”. Australia lodged the 43% emissions reduction target by 2030 under this Agreement in 2022 and the Climate Change Act (2022) was in force in April 2023 to make sure that Australia will reach Net Zero emission by 2025. This also coincides with the closure of various coal-fired power stations in Australia.

These large-scale renewable energy developments are usually considered State Significant Developments (SSDs). In NSW, the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces (the Minister) or their delegate is usually the consent authority for SSDs. The process of assessing these applications is complex and comprehensive and requires an Environmental Impact Statement to identify project impacts, along with extensive community consultation (McElnea & Alian, 2024). While this might be ‘comprehensive’, the International Association for Impact Assessment (2023) observes that “Traditional environmental impact assessment conducted at the individual project level has proven to be insufficient to deal with the bigger picture beyond project level impacts”.

National and State governments have published and released various policies, frameworks, and factsheets about the impacts of these projects including what they mean for the communities affected and how they can be ‘involved’in the process of decisionmaking. At the state level, the recent Climate Change (Net Zero Future) Act 2023 (Part 2, Section 8) specifies that: “Action to address climate change should be taken in a way that …considers the impact on rural, regional, and remote communities in New South Wales”. It should “involve appropriate consultation with affected persons, communities and stakeholders”and it should consider other matters including but not limited to the knowledge and perspectives of Aboriginal communities as well as the knowledge of rural, regional and remote communities in NSW. Amongst other things, this Act also states the need “to support local communities, including Aboriginal communities, who may be affected by the action”.

This project explores a key set of tensions in relation to planning for renewable energy projects in rural New South Wales (NSW), Australia. On the one hand, these projects are responding to clear global imperatives to transition to carbon-neutral societies, along with the understanding that any further delays could prove disastrous for the planet. On the other hand, it is also clear that these projects will significantly affect host communities in a range of ways and that wide-ranging community engagement is required to ensure that negative impacts are mitigated and positive impacts enhanced. From a societal perspective, there is an imperative to act ‘now’and yet, at the local scale at least, also a critical need to ensure that these projects generate beneficial and enduring outcomes for host communities, many of whom are keen to participate in and benefit from the potential renewable’s ‘boom’.

Drawing on the social and economic impacts of other Renewable Energy Zones (REZ) on its host communities, this project will explore the extent to which affected local towns and communities in the New England REZ have been meaningfully engaged with the highly complex planning framework associated with this renewable mega-project, and how levels of engagement and strategic involvement can be improved.