Words by Rory Linehan, director of infrastructure policy advancement – Australia-New Zealand, Bentley Systems
Australia’s investment in renewable energy and storage is delivering an important dividend. Wholesale electricity prices in the National Electricity Market (NEM) have recently fallen, helped by increased renewable generation and batteries supplying power during peak periods. Amid a national affordability crisis, sustaining that progress matters.
Lower wholesale prices take time to reach bills. Australian household electricity prices remain slightly above the OECD average, before adjusting for living costs. Keeping power affordable requires continued investment as demand grows.
AEMO’s 2026 Integrated System Plan forecasts consumption in the National Electricity Market to almost double by 2050, with electrification and expanding data centres driving demand. Under proposed legislation, the Federal Government is pushing for data centres to invest in new renewable generation to offset their electricity use.
New supply is also supporting Australia’s target of 82 per cent renewable on-grid electricity by 2030. Renewables supplied a Q3 record of 44.3 per cent of NEM generation to September 30, 2026. Getting projects built quickly enough to meet demand while keeping costs down is critical.
Rory Linehan. Image: Bentley Systems
Faster delivery starts with approvals
RenewMap’s national analysis from June 2025 found average planning approvals took 34 months for onshore wind and 16 months for solar, while EPBC Act approvals averaged 17 and eight months, respectively. Some environmental approvals stretch to five years or more.
As of September 2026, 59 per cent of Australian wind projects were awaiting one of more approvals, while a quarter of solar projects faced the same conundrum.
Delays create investor uncertainty and hold back supply. Better data and technology can help while maintaining environmental standards, through three distinct stages.
The first is fixing the process and data. The Samuel Review found environmental information fragmented, difficult to access and often trapped in PDFs. It recommended a national standard to improve evidence underpinning decisions.
The new National Environmental Standard for Data and Information, developed in August 2026, sets requirements for information to be “representative, transparent, comparable, reusable and ethical”. Shared geospatial data can put these principles into practice, helping proponents identify sensitive areas earlier and reduce repeated information requests.
The second is using AI to identify gaps before they slow assessments.
Broader planning initiatives offer lessons for energy approvals. NSW is investing up to $17 million to support State Significant Development assessments. Its planned tool will check application documents against planning rules and flag missing information. Requirements remain unchanged, planners review outputs and qualified decision-makers retain responsibility.
After the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, California introduced an AI plan-check tool for residential rebuilding, checking designs against zoning and building codes before submission. Energy projects have different requirements, but identifying gaps early can similarly reduce rework.
The third is assessing projects in their real-world context. The NSW Spatial Digital Twin already supports renewable energy planning, while WA’s Environment Online supports environmental assessments.
Bringing designs and environmental evidence together can help agencies examine impacts across locations and through construction and operation. Proponents can identify conflicts and compare alternatives earlier, while regulators can see how design changes affect impacts. This can reduce clarification requests, redesign and repeated submissions, while each authority retains its responsibilities.
The financial value of using better data and technology for energy infrastructure is already evident. On the Ohio River in the United States, engineers used a digital twin to model two corroded transmission towers, showing they could be retrofitted rather than replaced. The approach offered potential savings of up to 10 years of permitting and around $US80 million in replacement costs.
Keeping electricity affordable depends on getting new infrastructure built in time. Better data and smarter approvals can bring delivery forward by identifying problems earlier, reducing duplication and giving regulators clearer evidence, with environmental safeguards and community confidence built into the process.