Communities want a stake. Industry needs certainty. Farmers want options.

– Tom Dixon, Queensland Community Engagement Manager, RE-Alliance.

RE-Alliance welcomes recent announcements by the Queensland Government on increased community consultation and planning, but cautions against the Sunshine State being left behind in Australia’s energy shift. 

Queensland needs a cohesive energy plan. It needs to ensure the rollout of renewables, already underway, provides benefits for communities and certainty for investors to demonstrate that Queensland is ‘open for business’. RE-Alliance calls for all stakeholders from local government, industry, and community to be involved in future changes to energy planning frameworks.

We work with regional communities across Queensland, and we consistently hear that they want a greater say in development within their areas, and must be consulted properly. This includes having input into the siting of renewable infrastructure like wind and solar farms, and making sure a fair share of benefits flow from the local industry. 

For this reason, we welcome the Queensland Government acknowledging what we see on the ground in regions: a desire for greater transparency and consultation around renewable energy projects.

However, we need to make sure that Queenslanders are not left behind in Australia’s shift to renewables. We don’t want to miss out on the potential benefits that projects can bring to communities when renewables are done right.

Small shires in New South Wales, for example, are setting foundation principles on how they want to see developers working in their communities, working together to shape serious benefit sharing through energy bill relief and infrastructure legacy projects. The Hay Shire Council within NSW’s South West Renewable Energy Zone developed a set of ‘Fundamental principles for successful renewable development in Hay’ that is reaping results for the community.

Alison McLean, Hay Shire Council’s economic development manager, said: “We’ve got this massive opportunity now. And that’s what the conversation is actually about. Do you believe your community deserves the opportunity?”

From an industry perspective, certainty is crucial. That’s why we are urging the Queensland Government to ensure their new Queensland energy roadmap builds on and improves existing renewable energy legislation, making the most of the natural advantages we have in Queensland for renewable energy – a plan that delivers quality regional jobs and long-term benefits. 

Industry, including mining giants such as Rio Tinto and BHP, have repeatedly called for certainty both for investment in new energy developments and access to a reliable, plentiful supply of clean energy. 

With more than $73 billion worth of renewable energy projects in the pipeline in Queensland, certainty is critical. And recent announcements on the removal of funding for a green hydrogen project in Gladstone will only create further uncertainty. 

These industries need to ensure their global commitments can be met in supply chains, such as green hydrogen and steel, and that local manufacturing in Queensland remains viable.

At a forum late last year, Rio Tinto energy boss Vikraman Selvaraja said, “The cost of coal and gas is putting the Aluminum industry at risk [in Queensland]. 

“And with our energy needs likely doubling within the next few years… the opportunity to electrify our operations [with renewables] will ensure the industry, and jobs, continues in central Queensland,” he said.  

Following the Queensland Government’s announcements, the Clean Energy Council called for investor certainty to ensure that Queensland remained an attractive proposition for investment, and warned that: “the changes announced [in Queensland] have eroded that certainty for investors and the prospect of keeping these well-paying local jobs in Australia.” 

The call was also echoed in a statement by Katie Mulder, CEO of the Queensland Renewable Energy Council, stating that “The revisions to the Code and broader regulation must be workable and provide greater confidence for investors, developers, hosts – primary producers and their communities – and customers of renewable energy projects.”

Queensland farmers are crucial stakeholders in the State’s energy shift. Recent polling shows that 70% of rural Australians living in renewable energy zones – dubbed the ‘quiet majority’ – support the energy shift, but their support is conditional: projects must come with community benefits, good consultation, support regional communities’ access to reliable energy and look after nature.

And increasingly, farmers with renewables are seeing a way through the ‘tough years’ by diversifying income with rent from renewable energy projects. But the same polling referenced above showed that very few Australians realise this, with only 30% knowing that farmers benefit from weather-proof income when hosting renewables.

“Regional communities across Australia have already seen benefits in the form of employment, community development and infrastructure, sustainable farms and significant economic activity on the back of renewable energy developments,” said Neville Mattick, a grazier from NSW. 

“These days, when I consider the future of regional Australia I feel more optimistic about my family’s and community’s future.”

RE-Alliance supports a clean energy future that delivers benefits to farmers, communities, and industries across Queensland.