The draft Country Fire Authority (CFA) Design Guidelines and Model Requirements for Renewable Energy Facilities Version 5 (2026) seek to provide minimum requirements for fire safety, risk and emergency management in planning, designing, constructing and operating new renewable energy facilities and/or upgrading existing facilities. The CFA Design Guidelines and Model Requirements for Renewable Energy Facilities are used as a template in other states, so their influence on how renewable energy facilities are designed and assessed extends nationally. That makes it all the more important to get them right.
In our submission to the CFA, we support the objectives of the Draft v5 CFA Guidelines and recognise CFA’s vital role in protecting the community, emergency responders and critical infrastructure. The CEC and its members are committed to the highest standards of fire safety in the design, construction and operation of renewable energy facilities. We contend that fire safety requirements should be proportionate to the actual, quantified risk presented, supported by transparent evidence, and consistent with how comparable risks are managed across other industries and land uses, while ensuring that requirements remain robust where high-risk situations arise. In particular, we are concerned about the detail regarding high-risk environments and the potential challenges for proponents developing within the Bushfire Management Overlay (BMO).
The CEC welcomes the opportunity to keep working collaboratively with CFA as the guidelines are finalised.
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