Three wind projects approved by state, but left in limbo by “opaque, drawn-out” federal EPBC process

Three wind projects with a combined proposed capacity of up to 130 megawatts have been given the green light to go ahead in Victoria by the state Labor government, but two of them are still waiting on federal sign-off, stuck in what the developer describes as a long, drawn-out and opaque EPBC process.

Australian renewables developer RE Future says it has completed a “hat trick of Victorian wind farm planning permits” with the last of its three distribution-connected projects, the eight-turbine Mumblin Wind Farm, making it over the line in June.

The three permitted projects – including the 40 MW, up to six turbine Brewster wind farm and the five-turbine, 35 MW Swanson’s Lane wind farm – are all located in central western Victoria, and aim to connect to the local distribution network.

RE Future says the Brewster wind farm, near Beaufort, and the Mumblin and Swansons Lane projects, both near Terang, are in the final stages of securing their connection agreements with Powercor.

RE Future managing director David Shapero, who was instrumental in the delivery of the ground-breaking community wind farm in Hepburn, in Victoria, says his team has been “very grateful” for Powercor’s support, working through solutions for connecting the latest generation of 7 MW-plus turbines directly into the sub-transmission network.

But he says two of the projects are still awaiting a decision from the federal environment minister. And that changes to federal EPBC processes are exacerbating the “challenging economics” currently facing new wind projects.

“So even our even our very small projects seem to be caught up in a long, drawn-out and somewhat opaque process,” Shapero told Renew Economy.

“We just don’t know [where we stand with the EPBC approval for the projects] … and and we’re not alone,” he said. “[It’s a process] that we’re struggling to understand.”

RE Future is not alone in its concerns. Last month, a report from the Clean Energy Investor Group (CEIG) warned that sweeping reforms to Australia’s national environment laws were at risk of baking in major pitfalls for renewable energy developers and of sending the beleaguered sector further into the development wilderness. 

Federal parliament passed the most significant reforms to the EPBC Act in a generation, last November, in a bid to strengthen environmental protections while delivering more efficient, robust and transparent project assessments.

But CEIG says it is still hearing from developers, and particularly developers of wind farms, that some of the draft conditions that are being explored are “way too conservative” and will have disproportionate impacts on the viability of their projects.

Feedback from industry has also warned that the changes are undoing some of the improvements made through bilateral agreements between state and federal governments, aimed at to streamlining environmental approvals by reducing regulatory duplication.

Shapero says the lack of certainty around the EPBC process, including how long it will take, are making decisions on final investment more difficult to nail down.

“It’s at this stage, post permit, that we usually start discussions with likely asset owners and, recently, we’ve started to see a change in the market. Genuine interest from big data in PPAs seems to be changing the demand outlook,” he says.

“And these projects, being in the distribution network which is totally unaffected by any REZ Access requirements, and being nearly ready to build, are creating a little interest.

But “when you when you’re left in a situation of uncertainty, you simply can’t get to that final investment decision,” he tells Renew Economy. “And of course, with an unknown endpoint, you can’t plan for that.”

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