The role of the National Wind Farm Commissioner will be further expanded to cover new major transmission projects, as the Morrison Government maintains its priority on delivering cheap and reliable power to households and businesses.
To reflect the expanded role, the National Wind Farm Commissioner will now be known as the Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner.
Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor said the Government is committed to ensuring community concerns about transmission projects are acknowledged and addressed throughout the design, planning, construction and operational phases of deployment.
"Transmission investment is crucial to the security and affordability of our grid," Minister Taylor said.
"As these critically important transmission projects take shape, we want to ensure that any concerns community members have are heard and resolved in the appropriate way, and the Commissioner's expanded role will facilitate this.
"I thank Mr Andrew Dyer for taking on these additional responsibilities, his ongoing commitment to this important role and for his achievements since commencing the role in 2015".
Since 2015, the National Wind Farm Commissioner has played a key role in helping community members and stakeholders work through issues related to wind farm development and operations. In 2018, the Government expanded the Commissioner's role to also include managing concerns relating to large scale solar and storage installation.
The Commissioner will now also facilitate the resolution of complaints and community concerns about new major transmission projects, as well as assist industry and governments to identify and adopt best practices for deploying these projects.
The Morrison Government is advancing all major priority transmission projects identified in the Australian Energy Market Operator's 2020 Integrated System Plan.
The Government is working with state governments to support early works on transmission projects including Marinus Link, Project EnergyConnect, HumeLink, and VNI West.
The Government is also actively encouraging the development of new transmission projects through the establishment of a $1 billion Grid Reliability Fund to be administered by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
These critical transmission investments will bring new generation into the energy system while shoring up the reliability and affordability of the system across state borders.
The Government is continuing to deliver a more affordable and reliable electricity system for Australians through measures that will lower bills, secure our grid and drive investment in new energy infrastructure.
