Planning and Approvals
The project is being assessed as a State significant development (SSD), under Part 4 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.
As over 50 objections were received in the exhibition phase of the EIS, the Independent Planning Commission (IPC) is the consent authority for the project.
The project is also being assessed in accordance with the bilateral agreement made between the NSW and the Commonwealth under Section 45 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).
Key steps and timelines
The key steps and timeframes for the Sundown Solar Farm are as follows:
- Receipt of Secretary’s environmental assessment requirements (SEARs) (August 2020)
- Receipt of supplementary SEARs (October 2022)
- Submission of EIS (January 2023)
- Receipt of addendum SEARs (February 2023)
- Public exhibition of EIS (July-August 2023)
- Receipt of agency advice and other submissions (Q3 2023)
- Additional environmental assessments and stakeholder engagement (2023-2024)
- Preparation of submission report (2023-2024)
- Lodge the submissions report (Q1 2025)
- Assessment of the project by DPHI (Q2 2025)
- IPC process (Q3 2025)
- IPC determination (Q3 2025)
Assessment and determination by Commonwealth Government will follow the IPC determination.
Submissions received
Copies of the submissions are available on the NSW Major Projects website.
Submissions from government agencies related to the specific agency focus. The submission from Inverell Shire Council raised issues relating to:
- roads and traffic in relation to the proposed upgrade of Spring Mountain Road and Sturmans Road
- the capacity of the Inverell waste depot to accept and process project-related waste
- the decommissioning and rehabilitation of the project
- community benefits fund.
The top ten themes of submissions from special interest groups and community were:
- roads and traffic
- agriculture and land resources
- social (health, safety and wellbeing)
- noise and vibration
- water
- dust
- biodiversity
- social (impacts on local services)
- fire and hazards
- local economic impacts.
Actions taken since exhibition of EIS
In response to submissions received and based on the outcomes of engagement with key stakeholders, Recurrent Energy has:
- prepared a level 3 detailed agricultural impact assessment
- verified the land soil capability, consistent with the requirements of the Large-Scale Solar Energy Guideline 2022
- undertaken a more recent search of the Aboriginal Heritage Information Management System
- upgraded the capacity of the proposed solar panels, thereby resulting in a smaller disturbance footprint
- assessed the potential impact of the over-size over-mass vehicles
- revised the design of the upgrades to the Gwydir Highway/Spring Mountain Road intersection, including compliance with safe intersection sight distance (SISD) requirements and improvements to the safety of school bus stop users.
Recurrent Energy is also in the process of revising the:
- revising the site layout to further minimise impacts on biodiversity
- revising the Biodiversity Development Assessment Report (BDAR)
- preparing an interim construction traffic management plan that outlines the proposed measures to minimise safety risks to residents, school bus service users, livestock and other road users.