New Energy Bulletin: Queensland Government introduces comprehensive reforms to renewable energy planning framework

On 1 May 2025, the Queensland Government introduced the Planning (Social Impact and Community Benefit) and Other Legislation Amendment Regulation 2025 (Bill), marking a significant shift in the state’s approach to renewable energy approvals. The proposed reforms aim to ensure that large-scale wind and solar farm developments are more closely aligned with community expectations and land-use planning objectives.

Key changes introduced

The Bill amends the Planning Act 2016 (Qld) to establish a more rigorous and consistent approval pathway for large-scale renewable energy projects. Some notable changes include:

• Social Impact Assessments (SIA): Developers must undertake a formal assessment of how proposed wind or large-scale solar farms may affect nearby communities, including housing, employment, infrastructure and social cohesion.¹
• Community Benefit Agreements (CBA): Developers will be required to negotiate a CBA with the relevant local government before lodging a development application. The agreements will outline concrete commitments to manage and offset social impacts, ensuring that local communities share in the benefits.²
• Impact assessment by SARA: All development applications for wind and large-scale solar farms will be “impact assessable” by the State Assessment and Referral Agency (SARA). Public notification will be mandatory and eligible submitters will have the right to appeal development application decisions to the Planning and Environment Court.³
• Stronger public notification requirements: New rules will aim to increase public awareness of development applications requiring SIAs, ensuring communities are better informed and can participate meaningfully in the planning process.⁴

A shift from local to state oversight

Currently, development applications for large-scale solar farms are assessed by local governments against their individual planning schemes. The new framework transfers responsibility for engagement for assessment to SARA, applying a standardised set of rules across the state and requiring developers to engage early with the community and local governments. Applications will be assessed against both local planning schemes and the newly adopted State Code 26: Solar Farm Development under the State Development Assessment Provisions.⁵

Who is affected?

• Large-scale solar and wind farms: These projects will be subject to the full suite of new requirements including SIAs, CBAs, impact assessment and public notification.⁶

• Small-scale solar farms: These developments will remain under local government jurisdiction and are not required to prepare an SIA or CBA unless the site falls within a Priority Development Area (PDA), in which case the application will be assessed by SARA under the relevant PDA development scheme.⁷

Improving certainty and equity in energy development

Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie announced the reforms on 1 May 2025, describing them as a “necessary evolution in Queensland’s planning regime.”⁸ The new requirements aim to bring renewable energy developers and regional communities together earlier in the project lifecycle to reduce conflict, improve outcomes and restore public confidence.

The changes build upon previous reforms that introduced similar measures for wind farms earlier this year with a strong focus on transparency, accountability and local benefit.

What this means for developers

Developers of large-scale renewable energy projects should prepare for:

• Earlier and deeper community engagement, with investment in consultation required well before submitting a development application.
• New obligations to negotiate community benefits that reflect the scale and potential impacts of proposed developments.
• Greater scrutiny through public notification and third-party appeal rights, which will lengthen approval timeframes but create a more predictable and balanced planning system.

We will continue to monitor for further regulatory changes affecting the Queensland renewable energy industry.

You can view the relevant regulatory documents here:

• Planning (Social Impact and Community Benefit) and Other Legislation Regulation 2025
• New State Code 26: Solar farm development
• Social Impact Assessment Guideline
• Draft Development Assessment (DA) rules

The Hamilton Locke team advises across the energy project life cycle – from project development, grid connection, financing, and construction, including the buying and selling of development and operating projects. For more information, please contact Matt Baumgurtel, Amelia Prokuda.

¹Queensland Government, Renewable Energy Projects – Social Impact Assessment Guidance (2025).

²Queensland Government, Community Benefit Agreements – Explanatory Note (2025).

³Department of State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning (Qld), State Development Assessment Provisions (SDAP) – State Code 26: Solar Farm Development (Version 9.0, May 2025).

⁴Ibid.

⁵Department of State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning (Qld), State Development Assessment Provisions (SDAP) – State Code 26: Solar Farm Development (Version 9.0, May 2025).

⁶Queensland Government, Fact Sheet: Planning Framework for Large-Scale Renewables (2025).

⁷Department of State Development, Priority Development Areas Assessment Guide (2025).

⁸Jarrod Bleijie, Media Release: New Planning Laws to Put Communities First (Queensland Government, 1 May 2025).