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Australian Government makes further regulatory progress

By: Patrick Owen 17/04/2024 Australian Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water

General

The draft details how the DCCEEW will regulate developers’ project management over the full lifecycle.

An accompanying consultation paper provides reasoning for the preliminary decisions made in the draft and calls for feedback from interested stakeholders. Submissions are open until 12 May 2024.

This feedback will be evaluated before the regulation comes into effect later this year.The proposed regulations will guide developers once they hold an OEI license, with feasibility licenses being the first to be allocated. Feasibility license holders will soon be announced in Gippsland, while applications are currently under evaluation in Hunter, New South Wales.

Here's a summary of the draft regulation:

Firstly, it establishes that developers must produce Management Plans. These are detailed documents outlining the activities, compliance with legislation, stakeholder engagement strategies, and health & safety and risk management strategies. The draft details the Management Plan application process, evaluation process, content requirements, and proposes that a summary version will likely be published on a public website.

Management Plans will be the primary instrument through which regulators can evaluate project compliance. Similarly, they will function as the developer’s primary method of ensuring their projects are compliant. Any material changes to projects must be addressed through revised Management Plans.

Secondly, the draft details the establishment of a ‘design notification process’. This allows early engagement with the regulator, meaning developers can ensure their plans are compliant before submitting Management Plans. This process will be most applicable for the transmission and commercial license phases, which involve the installation of semi-permanent infrastructure.

Thirdly, the draft outlines the process surrounding financial security, which ensures that decommissioning can be covered. Developers will calculate the required amount themselves, accompanied by their calculation methods and some form of verification. The draft specifies which forms of security will and will not be accepted.

The draft also establishes safety and protection zones. The DCCEEW plans to follow a system similar to the UK. Safety zones will prohibit third-party entry to the wind farm’s location without permission, but will only be during the construction and decommissioning phases. Protection zones will be less restrictive; only prohibiting certain activities in the wind farm’s area, and will last the entire life of the wind farm.

Lastly, the draft offers some updates to the licensing scheme. Regarding local content, developers will have to include information on how they are contributing to local communities in their annual reports submitted to the regulator. Licensing conditions to maximise the use of Australian suppliers are currently being developed.

There is also a potential update to the overlapping process for feasibility license applications. Currently, where two equally meritorious applications overlap, developers are asked to revise and resubmit their applications. If an overlap still exists, financial offers are invited and the largest is selected.

The draft highlights that the government is considering skipping the revision step and moving straight to financial offers. Alternatively, where small overlaps exist the Climate Minister may choose to simply offer developers smaller licence areas. Both possible measures aim to improve the efficiency of the feasibility license allocation process.

The final regulations may ultimately change following the consultation process.

For more information about offshore wind farm projects across the globe, click here.

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Australian Government makes further regulatory progress

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