NSW seals first $27 million deal with local landowners providing offsets for state’s first renewable energy zone

The New South Wales government has announced the first deal with landowners as part of a new $140 million biodiversity offsets package that will help make good any damage to nature from developments in the state’s first renewable energy zone.

The package is key for the development of the government’s five major REZs, firstly to ensure that any environmental damage is offset, and by giving local landowners the opportunity to be paid to deliver those offsets.

The first $27 million deal – known as a Strategic Offset Delivery Agreement (SODA) – for more than 14,000 biodiversity credits from local landholders in the Central-West Orana REZ, was sealed last week.

“This is an important step for the Central-West Orana region – $140 million invested directly into protecting and restoring nature as we deliver the renewable energy infrastructure NSW needs to keep the lights on,” said Penny Sharpe, state minister for climate change, energy, and the environment.

“We’re ensuring landholders and local communities benefit financially from conservation, creating a win-win for the environment and the local economy.”

The 2017 Biodiversity Conservation Investment Strategy was amended earlier this year to introduce a new offsetting pathway for major energy transition projects, and provides eligible projects with the option to use a strategic offset agreement to deliver biodiversity offsets.

This might apply for buildings of wind farms or transmission lines who need to remove parts of forests to build access roads or the infrastructure themselves.

Each EnergyCo project, including the Central-West Orana and New England Renewable Energy Zones, and the Hunter Transmission Project, will have their own SODA to offset their impact on the local environment and to invest in landscape scale conservation.

It is also expected that these SODAs could also help to reduce the costs associated with satisfying local biodiversity requirements, according to Australian law firm Gilbert + Tobin.

By funding the Strategy, the NSW government says it is aiming to avoid a series of ad-hoc outcomes delivered project by project and instead deliver strategic conservation outcomes for the environment and the environment. And as well as delivering on long-term conservation priorities for the region.

Three priorities for the Strategy were highlighted by the government, including the creation of wildlife corridors and habitat connectivity, partner with First Nations groups, and generate opportunities for local landowners to benefit directly from biodiversity restoration, including Aboriginal landowners.

The NSW government says there are other project deals in the pipeline.

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