"It takes so long:" Approval times for wind projects have been slashed, but investors are still frustrated

New South Wales (NSW) has slashed the amount of time it takes to approve a wind project from 9.5 years to just over three years.

But bringing these into line with other states, which have even shorter average approval timeframes, needs more than just tweaking the submission threshold that forces a review of a planning approval, according to a report today by the Clean Energy Investor Group (CEIG).

“Planning is still the Achilles heel in NSW, in that it takes so long to get renewable energy projects through this system, but it’s going in the right direction,” CEIG chief Richie Merzian tells Renew Economy.

“There have been significant improvements but there’s a lot more work to do. Even the NSW government recognises this, which is why in the last month they’ve brought forward this Prioritising Renewable Energy Bill… because they’ve seen too many major projects get caught up in the system.”

Even factoring in Queensland’s move a year ago to lengthen planning processes for solar and wind projects, and later batteries as well, all other states are beating NSW on planning timelines.