Policy and planning uncertainty ranked as biggest potholes for wind and solar transition

A survey of over 100 renewable energy industry participants, conducted by the Clean Energy Council and Lockton, has identified policy and planning uncertainty as the sector's biggest obstacle. Respondents report that project approvals are harder to obtain, grid connections take longer and face mounting complexity, and state-led renewable energy zones and transmission infrastructure are hitting delays and policy reversals. The CEC says the operating environment has grown increasingly complex at the moment Australia needs to accelerate development to meet demand and replace retiring coal plants.

Where this fits

This report documents a cost and pace problem baked into the renewables-only transition. Uncertainty around approvals, grid connection and transmission planning doesn't just slow projects. It raises financing costs, extends timelines, and defers revenue. Every month of delay in a wind or solar farm is a month of higher borrowing cost and deferred earnings. The speed problem matters because Australia is trying to build a weather-dependent grid that requires not only massive renewable capacity but also the transmission overbuild and gas-firming infrastructure to make it reliable. Delays in project delivery compound into delays in the whole system. A firm alternative like nuclear faces the same approval bottlenecks, but one project of equivalent firm output replaces multiple wind and solar farms, each with its own planning and grid-connection burden.

What it means

Regulatory clarity is necessary for any energy transition. But this finding reveals the real cost of speed: Australia is trying to retire coal and expand renewables faster than its planning, approval and grid systems can accommodate. The more projects needed to hit a target, the more approvals required. A grid built on firm dispatchable power requires fewer independent projects and fewer interconnection points. Sovereignty also hinges on pace: a delayed transition means longer dependence on coal, or accelerated reliance on imports (panels, batteries, inverters, minerals) from supply chains Australia does not control.