The Aboriginal land council estate presents a significant opportunity for the NSW Government to achieve its renewable energy targets.
Across NSW, there is huge potential for Aboriginal land to be part of rapid renewable energy development. Local Aboriginal Land Councils (Aboriginal land councils) control most of the Aboriginal land estate in NSW, but much of the land estate is remote and difficult to service with existing power networks. Many land councils express increasing interest in hosting energy projects on their lands to achieve a range of social and economic outcomes.
To date, the Aboriginal land council estate in NSW has not been actively used in the energy transition. This has limited both Aboriginal participation in the renewable energy transition and the realisation of social and economic benefits for Aboriginal communities. Activating the renewable energy potential of the Aboriginal land council estate would create a new avenue for renewable development in NSW and meet the aspirations of the NSW Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap and its associated First Nations Guidelines. Aboriginal land council participation is critical to the delivery of the Australian Government’s First Nations Clean Energy Strategy 2024–2030 and the National Agreement on Closing the Gap (Closing the Gap).
Aboriginal land councils in NSW own and manage 447km2 of land estate, with future Aboriginal land claims amounting to 7,438km2. From a technical perspective, the entire current land estate (447km2) is suitable for solar, which is equivalent to 11GW of renewable energy (installed capacity) while 326km2 is suitable for wind energy projects equivalent to 1.6GW of renewable energy potential (installed capacity).
If outstanding Aboriginal land claims are granted, the renewable energy potential of the Aboriginal land council estate will increase by approximately 19 times for solar energy projects, and approximately 22 times for wind energy projects.
Authors: Professor Heidi Norman, Dr Chris Briggs, Dr Ed Langham, Therese Apolonio, Dr Saori Miyake, Dr Sarah Niklas, Dr Sven Teske, 'Local Aboriginal Land Council Powershift — Sharing the benefits of the energy transition’, June 2025
Read the report