Is land-use planning being underutilised for ensuring the resilience of new electricity infrastructure?: An Australian case study

Abstract

Australia is a signatory to the Paris Agreement and has embarked upon a radical transformation of its electricity infrastructure to be achieved by 2030. This requires significant investment in new infrastructure including 10,000 km of transmission lines to connect renewable energy and battery firming projects to the existing national electricity grid. This development is taking place within Renewable Energy Zones designated in the States and Territories. In this article, the authors question the contribution which land-use planning is making to building the resilience of this new infrastructure to climate-induced extreme weather events. We focus on the jurisdictions of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. Our analysis suggests that optimism in using land-use planning frameworks to build resilience in electricity infrastructure is overstated at present. This points towards an urgent need to develop a more robust strategy in future.