The decision to invest in renewable energy and a solar farm development goes beyond an assessment of financial returns. Like an increasing number of Australian businesses looking to integrate renewable energy into their portfolios, we assess environmental and social governance factors as a core part of our project development approach.
By adopting a strong environmental assessment and management approach we aim to deliver higher quality solar projects with lower potential for encountering costly construction or operational risks.
Community
Getting community engagement right from the outset of a solar farm development is crucial to help inform and smooth the process of delivering a project.
Community and regional stakeholders are a priority during the project development phases and we meet and liaise with key project stakeholders as early as possible in our project lifecycle.
These interactions give us significant insight into the local community and the environment – and understand the particular ‘environmental risks’ and ‘social risks’ a project may encounter. Valuable insights are then incorporated into our concept planning to help secure both a regulatory and social licence to progress to development.
Environment and Heritage
Solar farms will play a big part in Australia’s energy future. The need to reduce our reliance on carbon-intensive fossil fuels is driving exceptional interest and investment in clean, zero-emissions power generation across the globe and across Australia.
While the environmental credentials of solar are widely accepted, it is important to us that we identify and manage local environmental and heritage issues specific to our sun farm developments.
This includes:
land disturbance, land use impacts
potential ecological (flora and fauna) impacts and management of sensitive species
aboriginal cultural heritage
water use, sediment control and stormwater management
visual impacts
weed management
bushfire prevention and management
construction impacts such as traffic and dust.
