Key takaways
The Wind Farm Code now requires full compliance with both the Performance Outcomes and Purpose Statement to meet the Code.
Unlike other SDAP codes, the Wind Farm Code requires applicants to demonstrate compliance with the Purpose Statement and all Performance Outcomes.
On 3 February 2025, the Queensland Government introduced the Planning (Wind Farms) Amendment Regulation 2025 which modified the Planning Regulation 2017 and gave effect to the latest version of the State Development Assessment Provisions (SDAP) Version 3.2 State Code 23: Wind Farm development (Wind Farm Code).
The Wind Farm Code has been further updated since Version 3.1 of the SDAP which took effect in September 2024.
A notable aspect of the Wind Farm Code is that it is the first SDAP Code where compliance with the Code will only be achieved when both the Performance Outcomes and Purpose Statement are complied with in full. This is notwithstanding the decision-making hierarchy in Section 2.5 of the SDAP, which indicates that development will comply with a state code where the development does not meet one or more Performance Outcomes and the State Assessment and Referral Agency (SARA) determines, on balance, that the development complies with the Purpose Statement.
Uniquely for the Wind Farm Code, where the Performance Outcomes are not complied with, compliance with the Code cannot be achieved. Similarly, if the Purpose Statement is not complied with, then compliance with the Code cannot be achieved. Compliance with the Performance Outcomes alone will not achieve compliance with the Purpose Statement. There are no acceptable outcomes in the Wind Farm Code.
While this approach to using codes in assessment is unique for the SDAP, Brisbane City Plan 2014 has a similar framework whereby assessable development that complies with the purpose, overall outcomes, and the performance outcomes or acceptable outcomes, complies with the Code (see Section 5.3.3). This can be contrasted with approaches of some other local governments, where development that complies with the purpose and overall outcomes of the code complies with the code and compliance with the performance outcomes, or acceptable outcomes of the code complies with the purpose and overall outcomes of the code.
There are three components to the purpose of the Wind Farm Code and thirty performance outcomes, including new Performance Outcomes relating to agricultural land, community impact and decommissioning. Projects will need to comply with all requirements in order to comply with the Wind Farm Code.
