Outback councils look to US oil state to advise on renewables success

Outback councils pay for Texas energy lawyers to spruik renewables Tue 2 Jun 2026 at 8:32am In short: A group of local governments have paid for Texan energy lawyers to visit their region, advocating for renewable developments. They say useful comparisons can be drawn between Texas's renewables boom and the economic potential for the industry in Queensland. What's next? The Texan travellers will continue their tour of Queensland, meeting with stakeholders and state government officials. A group of outback Queensland councils are looking to a US state synonymous with oil and gas as a model for renewable energy growth. Three energy lawyers from Texas are touring Queensland, flown over by a coalition of regional councils and the state's local government association. Rod Wetsel is a wind lawyer and rancher from Sweetwater in Nolan County, Texas, the centre of the industry in a state that has led the United States in wind energy production for two decades. He said there were lessons for local governments and landholders in western Queensland currently carving out deals with wind-energy companies. "What we can help do is to help the Australians overcome some of the problems that we encountered because we didn't know they were coming," he said. Learning from the Texas wind boom The Lone Star State is home to about 240 wind-related projects, with about 27,000 jobs connected to the industry. Mr Wetsel said the wind-energy boom had presented waste-disposal and landholder negotiation challenges that Australians could learn from. "How do you decommission the turbines when the wind farm becomes obsolete? How do you pay for that? You need to make sure that if the company goes bankrupt or leaves the country, that there's money available to clean that up," he said. "You have a lot more bargaining power than you think you have." The Flinders Shire Council, Local Government Association of Queensland and Remote Area Planning and Development Board paid $30,000 for the Texans to visit Hughenden, Townsville, Mackay and Brisbane. Flinders Shire Mayor Kate Peddle said she hoped it would raise awareness with landholders and state government officials about the economic potential of renewables in rural shires. "This isn't, for our community, about reducing emissions, this is about capitalising on the development and the opportunities that come to north Queensland," she said. The first stop on the tour was Hughenden, a town of 1,000 people and a hub for surrounding cattle properties, about five hours south-west of Townsville. Over the past five years, 12 wind turbines have been added to the town's surrounding vista of granite hills and grass plains, with the Kennedy Energy Park's wind turbines supplying 166,699 megawatts of power to the regional grid since it became operational in May 2024. Councils negotiating benefit agreements The local government is eager to expand the scale of development in the region, with changes to the state's planning laws last year mandating that proponents of wind, solar and battery developments reach community benefit agreements with local councils before making development applications. Cr Peddle said her shire was in early-stage negotiations with energy companies hoping to lodge applications for future projects, while several projects, including the North Queensland Super Hub, backed by mining billionaire Andrew Forrest, progressed through approvals. "[It's] very early days still, and I think that's why it's important that we have these three gentlemen out here that can not only advise us, but educate the community on what the benefits could be," she said. Grattan Institute energy program director and former Origin Energy executive, Tony Wood, said different planning and taxation laws in places like Texas must be taken into account when drawing international comparisons. "I certainly would not rule out the idea of getting advice from other places that have done things differently, that is always useful," he said. "But then you've also got to have a very good filter to make sure that you're not convinced that just because it worked somewhere else, it will work perfectly in north Queensland, for example." Transmission infrastructure vital to growth Mr Wetsel said supporting infrastructure was vital if outback Queensland was serious about upscaling renewable energy capacity. "I think they need to get the politicians on board to create the transmission that's necessary in order to have the development," he said. Cr Peddle said the multi-billion-dollar CopperString 2032 project, an 800-kilometre transmission line that would connect mines and renewables projects to the national electricity grid, was essential to making any economic windfall a reality. "The transmission line is very important and that's integral to us to become generators, and welcome in the wind farms to the development," she said. "We're at the very beginning of our journey through the energy transition."