"Planning away" Victoria's renewable energy future? resolving the tension between the local and global in windfarm developments

Recent changes in 2011 to the Victorian planning framework for windfarm developments raise significant questions about the capacity of planning law to balance local concerns regarding development impacts with the need to facilitate the uptake of wind energy to meet Australia's Renewable Energy Target and to contribute to its climate mitigation effort. The pre-amendment planning law framework, despite being strategically geared toward promoting renewable energy at the policy level, had a number of shortcomings. The 2011 amendments fundamentally changed the nature of planning decisions around windfarm developments by greatly extending spatial development controls via windfarm "no go zones" and by shifting the focus of assessment to local impacts. In light of this reorientation in Victorian planning law, this article considers the features of an effective windfarm planning framework that can effectively balance local and global interests. It draws in part on a comparative case study of German planning law, which has enabled Germany to successfully increase the proportion of wind energy in its energy profile.