Planning for New Energy Infrastructure | Draft National Policy Statements for energy infrastructure

National Policy Statements (NPSs) are designated under the Planning Act 2008 (the 2008 Act) to provide guidance for decision-makers on the application of government policy when determining development consent for major infrastructure. Their function is to state clearly how existing policy applies to development consent, removing discussion of the merits of government policy from the examination process so that decisions can be made on the basis of planning considerations alone. NPSs apply to infrastructure that is defined as a “Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project” in the 2008 Act. The current suite of energy NPSs were designated by the Department of Energy and Climate Change in 2011, namely: The overarching NPS (EN-1) Fossil fuel electricity generating infrastructure (EN-2) Renewable Energy Infrastructure (EN-3) Gas supply infrastructure gas and oil pipelines (EN-4) Electricity Networks Infrastructure (EN-5) &#