Earlier this year, Neoen filed its Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) referral to the Federal government (the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, or DCCEEW). This is a standard procedure for any infrastructure project seeking development approval in Australia and every wind farm must generally do this. This EPBC referral is a formal request for confirmation from DCCEEW as to whether the project will be regarded as a “controlled action” (i.e. may have an impact on species listed under the Federal EPBC Act) and whether it will therefore need approval at the federal level (under the EPBC Act). This is in addition to needing approval at the State level (which would be through a development consent under the NSW Environmental Planning & Assessment Act (EP&A Act)). When a project in the State of NSW, DCCEEW has the option delegating its assessment under the EPBC Act to the NSW Department of Planning, Housing & Infrastructure (DPHI) – the same authority who assesses and grants development consents in NSW. It is usual practice for them to delegate. And the letter received from DCCEEW on 14 May 2026 confirms that they will do this.

This decision is publicly available on the DCCEEW website at the following link.

Neoen therefore continues to prepare its environmental impact statement for submission to DPHI with the application for development consent in November 2026. Then, DPHI will assess the project under both the EPBC Act and the EP&A Act.

The project is already in DPHI’s ‘Major Projects’ portal with the name and telephone number of the DPHI case officer assigned to it. These details are available here. Any member of the public may already contact DPHI about the project, both before and after the application for development consent is submitted.