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Wind farm, Australia. Credit: TRD JZX100/ flickr

by Bill Hudson

Australian Energy Review

New South Wales is undergoing something of an energy revolution.

No fewer than 32 separate electricity generation projects have all been deemed ‘state significant’ under controversial provisions of the state’s planning laws.

The projects include fifteen gas or coal seam methane power stations, twelve wind farms, three coal-fired projects, one wood-fired and one diesel generation project.

Of those approved, the breakdown is nine gas or coal seam methane; seven wind farms and the solitary diesel project at Buronga in the state’s far southwest.

The bulk of the generation capacity is locked up in two 2,000MW projects – New coal generators, to be built and run by the private sector, at Bayswater in the upper Hunter Valley and Mt Piper, near Lithgow in Central Western NSW.

Both are sited next to existing coal fired power generation facilities and will effectively double the capacity of existing power stations at both locations.

Both projects are yet to be approved under NSW’s planning laws.

Under Part 3(A) of the NSW Planning Act, if a project is deemed by the Planning Minister to be ‘state significant’, then the approval process is taken out of the hands of local authorities and resides with the Planning Minister, giving the Minister, currently the Hon Tony Kelly MLC, unprecedented power to ‘fast track’ developments.

The Part 3(A) approval process have been heavily criticised by the NSW Opposition under Barry O’Farrell, as well as Green MPs, for removing transparency from the development approvals process. The provisions are seen as widely unpopular in the community.

Opposition leader Barry O’Farrell says that, if elected, he will abolish the Part 3(a) provisions of the planning act, which will increase the political strength of those opposing various development projects.

The Greens, who will almost certainly have the balance of power in their own right after the next state election, are also vehemently opposed to Part 3(a), and especially any new coal fired power stations.

This will be significant for those wishing to develop the coal-fired generation sites at Bayswater and Mt Piper that the NSW government is selling as part of its electricity privatisation process. Potential developers of energy generation sites may not have the project approval security they think.

A change of government, and the resulting loss of the Part 3(a) provisions, could also threaten a number of other smaller projects awaiting approval – including South East Forest Export’s 5MW wood-fired power station at its Twofold bay export facility.

Wind-farm developers are also facing increasingly organised opposition to projects that may encroach on built up areas.

With the NSW election 15 months away, and a change of government expected, not all of the power projects being floated in NSW may get the easy approval ride they may be expecting.

Active energy based projects under NSW Planning Act

Determined Projects