Wind farms

To enable the implementation of the government’s commitment to require wind farm projects to be impact assessable, and subject to similar approval processes consistent with other land uses, like mining and agriculture, the Deputy Premier has issued a proposed call in notice for the Moonlight Range Wind Farm and temporarily paused three wind farm applications currently under assessment.

Wind farm developments can have significant social, economic and environmental impacts on local regional communities. Yet wind farm developments are proceeding without mandatory community consultation, unlike other significant projects.

The Queensland Government is delivering on its commitment that requires renewable energy projects are impact assessable with approval processes consistent with other land uses like mining and infrastructure.

Local government and the local community through public consultation should be an integral part of the assessment process for wind farms.

Wind farm application assessments

On 16 January 2025, the Deputy Premier and Minister for Planning issued a proposed call-in notice for the Moonlight Range Wind Farm near Morinish, northwest of Rockhampton. The notice seeks submissions from the proponent, community and other interested parties about whether the proposed development qualifies as a state interest and should be re-assessed. The representation period is 40 business days closing 14 March 2025.

The Deputy Premier has also issued directions to the Director-General of the Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning, as the Chief Executive of the Planning Act, to pause the assessment of three other wind farm applications to allow proponents to demonstrate that the appropriate community consultation and impact assessment have been undertaken, in line with the Government’s election commitment. The pause is in effect for four months to 16 May 2025.

The Government will continue to consult on the implementation of its election commitment.

Planning (Wind Farms) Amendment Regulation 2025

On 3 February 2025, the Planning (Wind Farms) Amendment Regulation 2025 (Amendment Regulation) will commence and give effect to the following changes:

• make all development applications for material change of use for wind farms under the Planning Act 2016 subject to impact assessment
• gives effect to the latest version of State code 23: Wind farm development in the State Development Assessment Provisions (version 3.2) in Schedule 24.

State code 23: Wind farm development

Amendments to the State code 23: Wind farm development ( 154.4 KB) ensure wind farm projects are subject to rigorous assessment, and include:

• revising the purpose statement to reflect the Government’s policy commitment
• revising the purpose statement to set out minimum parameters of assessment necessary to demonstrate a wind farm can satisfactorily mitigate impacts
• revising the purpose statement to include that the siting of wind farms does not result in impacts on individuals, communities and the environment
• revising the purpose statement to require community and Local Government engagement
• modifying the ‘using this code’ section to make it fit for purpose for impact assessment
• adding a new performance outcome PO5 requiring applicants to demonstrate the proposal does not create a significant loss of high-quality agricultural land values
• adding a new performance outcome PO17 to require applicants to demonstrate how they will manage off-site workforce accommodation impacts to surrounding communities and townships
• adding a new performance outcome PO23 requiring applicants to demonstrate the proposal manage, mitigate and remediate impacts on infrastructure and services, including social infrastructure, communications networks and essential infrastructure
• adding a new performance outcome PO26 requiring applicants to demonstrate the proposal avoids adverse impacts on communities
• adding a new performance outcome PO30 to require security to safeguard timely compliance with decommissioning plans
• formatting and editorial amendments.

The Planning guideline – State code 23: Wind farm development ( 4.5 MB) has also been amended to reflect the changes to the code.