EUAA Submission: AER Directions Paper – Social Licence For Electricity Transmission Projects
Emily Wood | December 1, 2023
‘…The development of social licence guidelines is a growth industry. We have the recently published AEMC final rule change on enhancing community engagement in transmission building1, the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water working with States as part of the National Energy Transformation Partnership to improve community engagement and speed up project delivery2, the Australian Energy Infrastructure
Commissioner is about to publish a Community Engagement Review3 and the Energy Charter Better Practice Social Licence Guideline4 was published around 12 months ago. Now we have the proposed amendments to the AER’s Cost Benefit Analysis Guidelines to incorporate social licence.
We very much support the development of these guidelines, though it can be confusing in trying to work out which one actually applies to specific projects (it seems only the AEMC and AER initiatives and then with a limited application some years into the future) and which ones are purely guidance (it seems most of them). Which ones simply set out ‘best’ or ‘better’ practice that it is suggested project developers apply (most) and which ones actually involve a legal requirement with compliance obligations and sanctions for failure to comply (perhaps the AEMC and AER)….’
Please download attachment to read full submission.