Power and participation: navigating renewable energy planning in regional NSW

Using renewable energy sources is not new in Australia. In 2023, 39.4% of the country’s total electricity generation came from renewables, with New South Wales (NSW) the highest user in terms of megawatts (Clean Energy Council, 2024). In 2020, the NSW Government announced the first stage of its Net Zero Plan. To achieve this, five renewable energy zones (REZ) were declared including New England (NE) REZ. Governments have released various policies and factsheets outlining the impacts of these renewable energy projects and infrastructure, including what they mean for affected communities and how they can be involved in decision-making. The importance of planning and planning policies in this process should not be overlooked. The Minister confirmed the government “has accelerated the growth of renewable energy projects” and stressed the need to acquire social licence in communities which may become polarised by energy distribution and storage. He also emphasised not just policy development, but continued engagement of project proponents with host communities (Scully, 2024). However, since many of these policies are new, it is difficult to know how communities in regional NSW can be engaged meaningfully, especially when local governments can only partially influence outcomes.

This presentation explores tensions in planning for renewable energy projects in NSW. On one hand, these projects respond to urgent global imperatives to transition to carbon-neutral societies. On the other, they significantly affect host communities, requiring engagement to mitigate negative impacts and enhance benefits. There is an imperative to act ‘now’, but also to conduct thorough community engagement. Drawing on in-depth, semi-structured interviews with local council planners and other stakeholders involved in REZ policy as well as reviewing planning policies and guidelines related to REZ, we examine the extent to which communities in the NE REZ might be meaningfully engaged within an ‘accelerated’ yet complex planning framework.