Review of the National Wind Farm Commissioner Final Report
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h REVIEW OF THE NATIONAL WIND FARM COMMISSIONER FINAL REPORT MAY 2018 2 Published by the Climate Change Authority www.climatechangeauthority.gov.au © Commonwealth of Australia 2018 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia Licence. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au The Climate Change Authority asserts the right to be recognised as author of the original material in the following manner: © Commonwealth of Australia (Climate Change Authority) 2018. IMPORTANT NOTICE – PLEASE READ This document is produced for general information only and does not represent a statement of the policy of the Commonwealth of Australia. The Commonwealth of Australia and all persons acting for the Commonwealth preparing this report accept no liability for the accuracy of or inferences from the material contained in this publication, or for any action as a result of any person’s or group’s interpretations, deductions, conclusions or actions in relying on this material. FINAL REPORT - REVIEW OF THE NATIONAL WIND FARM COMMISSIONER 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Climate Change Authority would like to thank the many individuals and organisations that contributed time and expertise to this review by making submissions or participating in consultations. These contributions have improved the quality of the review and provided evidence to help inform the Authority’s recommendations. The National Wind Farm Commissioner, the Department of the Environment and Energy and the Clean Energy Regulator also provided information to assist the Authority in its preparation of this review. However, the views in this report are the Authority’s own. 4 CONTENTS CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................................................ 3 CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................ 4 CHAIR’S FOREWORD ................................................................................................................ 6 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................. 7 LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS............................................................................................... 11 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND ......................................................... 12 1.1 About this review .......................................................................................................................... 12 1.2 The National Wind Farm Commissioner’s role ............................................................................. 12 1.3 Background on the wind industry in Australia .............................................................................. 13 1.4 Concerns about wind farms in Australia ....................................................................................... 18 1.5 Wind farm developments overseas .............................................................................................. 18 CHAPTER 2. RESOLVING COMPLAINTS ........................................................................... 20 2.1 Complaints handling policy and procedures ................................................................................. 20 2.2 Overview of complaints ................................................................................................................ 22 2.3 Assessment of complaint outcomes ............................................................................................. 24 CHAPTER 3. INFORMATION PROVISION AND PROMOTING BEST PRACTICES ......... 33 3.1 The Commissioner’s activities ...................................................................................................... 33 3.2 Findings from information provision and promoting best practices .............................................. 36 3.3 Outcomes of the Commissioner’s work on promoting best practices and other information ....... 39 CHAPTER 4. ONGOING NEED FOR THE ROLE, SCOPE AND MODELS FOR FUNDING ... .......................................................................................................................... 41 4.1 Other avenues for addressing wind industry complaints .............................................................. 41 4.2 Ongoing need for the role ............................................................................................................. 43 4.3 Expanding the Commissioner’s role to other large scale renewable energy projects .................. 44 4.4 Models for funding ........................................................................................................................ 48 4.5 Principles for ongoing role ............................................................................................................ 52 CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 53 APPENDIX A. TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR THIS REVIEW ............................................... 56 APPENDIX B. THE NATIONAL WIND FARM COMMISSIONER’S TERMS OF REFERENCE . .......................................................................................................................... 57 APPENDIX C. PUBLIC CONSULTATIONS ............................................................................. 58 APPENDIX D. SUMMARY OF THE NATIONAL WIND FARM COMMISSIONER'S ANNUAL REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................................. 59 APPENDIX E. OVERVIEW OF THE COSTS AND BENEFITS OF THE AUTHORITY’S RECOMMENDATIONS .............................................................................................................. 62 APPENDIX F. OVERVIEW OF COMMONWEALTH AND STATE OMBUDSMEN’S ROLES 65 GLOSSARY OF TERMS ........................................................................................................... 66 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ...................................................................................... 67 REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................... 68 FINAL REPORT - REVIEW OF THE NATIONAL WIND FARM COMMISSIONER 5 Figures Figure 1: Annual electricity generated by wind power in Australia............................................ 13 Figure 2: Map of wind farm locations ......................................................................................... 15 Figure 3: Operating and proposed wind farms .......................................................................... 16 Figure 4: Complaints handling process ..................................................................................... 21 Figure 5: Number of complaints by state per quarter ................................................................ 23 Figure 6: Issues raised by complaints ....................................................................................... 23 Figure 7: Number of complaints closed for each reason ........................................................... 24 Tables Table 1: Renewable energy targets ........................................................................................... 14 Table 2: 2017 minimum levelised costs of energy for various technologies ............................. 14 Table 3: Wind farm regulation by state or local governments ................................................... 18 Table 4: Principles for assessment and their meaning ............................................................. 25 Table 5: The Office of the National Wind Farm Commissioner's budget .................................. 48 Table 6: Analysing the recommendations' outcomes ................................................................ 62 Boxes Box 1: International experience with concerns about wind farms ............................................. 19 Box 2: Victorian Government changes to permit approvals and renewals ............................... 39 Box 3: Aircraft Noise Ombudsman ............................................................................................ 49 Box 4: Cost recovery principles and requirements .................................................................... 51 6 CHAIR’S FOREWORD CHAIR’S FOREWORD The Climate Change Authority is pleased to release this report on its review of the National Wind Farm Commissioner. At the time the National Wind Farm Commissioner was established, the Government said it would review the role in 2018. This review responds to that undertaking. The Authority found that, for many stakeholders, the Commissioner exceeded expectations. Representatives from the wind farm industry as well as state governments told the Authority that the Commissioner has facilitated uptake of wind energy by helping to address community concerns. This is no small thing. The relative newness of the wind industry in Australia and its rapid growth off a small base may have been factors in sparking what felt like a groundswell of community concern. The National Wind Farm Commissioner provided a new and valued avenue for individuals and communities to have their voices heard on wind development. The Commissioner has done so by dealing constructively with complaints on wind farms and its best practice recommendations guide community consultation and complaints handling. In some cases, the Commissioner’s best practice