MEDIA RELEASE
16 September 2025
The Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales (NCC), the state’s leading environmental organisation, has today applauded the Independent Planning Commission’s (IPC) decision to reject Verdant Earth Technologies’ biomass power plans as common sense and science-backed.
Energy company Verdant Earth Technologies was seeking to use the long-mothballed Redbank Power Station near Singleton to burn 700,000 tonnes of native vegetation each year to produce energy.
The company proposed to use material sourced from land clearing and potentially native forests.
“It’s a relief that this disastrous and illogical plan to burn woodlands and forests for energy has been firmly extinguished by the IPC,” said Dr Brad Smith, NCC’s Policy and Advocacy Director.
“The Independent Planning Commission has made the right call in listening to the experts and rejecting this proposal on environmental grounds,” he said.
The IPC received 594 unique submissions on the proposal, with the overwhelming majority (94.6%) against it.
The IPC’s report states: “The Commission finds that there are likely to be adverse environmental impacts from the Project’s fuel strategy.” And that the application hasn’t addressed these impacts “as it should have.”
The IPC also noted that the vegetation proposed to be burned played an important role as “important habitat for native species”.
“After years of fighting against this disturbing proposal, in all its forms, this decision is a win for nature, communities and climate,” said Dr Smith.
“Now it’s up to Environment Minister Penny Sharpe to close the loopholes that allowed this proposal in the first place”
“Verdant Earth wanted to truck thousands of tonnes of native vegetation, for hundreds of kilometers, cleared under sketchy rules that the Government is looking to change, and throw it into a furnace.
“We worked with experts to make sure the IPC knew that there would be 45 native plant species and habitat for threatened animals directly endangered by the proposal — that’s why it has been refused.”
“The Commissioners agreed that the project would create a new demand for clearing rural bushland and increase the rates of habitat loss, which are already too high.
“This project would have released huge amounts of pollution into the atmosphere. The residents of the Singleton area can breathe a little easier knowing this plan has gone up in smoke.
“We are so pleased that this project, which has been hanging around for years, has been given such a resounding refusal.”
ENDS
Media contact: Anna Greer
E: [email protected] M: 0493 733 529 PH: (02) 7208 9482
Note: Spokespeople are available for comment on request
The Independent Planning Commission’s decision is available here
Project background
Redbank is an old 151MW coal-fired power station near Singleton which has been out of action since 2014, when it was put into care and maintenance because it could no longer be provided with its required fuel.
In 2020, the then proponent Hunter Development Brokerage Pty Limited, now Verdant Earth Technologies, lodged an application for modification to enable the use of biomass, including native forest residues, as fuel for the station. Their proposal was rejected by Singleton Council. The proponent took the decision to the Land and Environment Court and was dismissed in 2022 because the modification application to burn biomass instead of coal tailings was not “substantially the same” as the original approved development.
Since, Verdant sought the Secretary’s Environmental Assessment Requirements (SEARs) for the assessment of Redbank as a new development, which were provided for the current proposal in 2023. The Environmental Impact Statement for the project was provided by Verdant to the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (DPHI) in early 2024.
Upon DPHIE community consultation for the project, 215 objecting submissions were received by and as such the consent authority has become the Independent Planning Commission (State Significant Development projects that attract more than 50 unique objections are to be determined by the IPC).
NCC’s submission to the DPHI assessment of the current proposed project is available here
The referral from DPHI to IPC is available here
The rejected proposal simply changed the tenure of land from which the fuel is intended to be sourced, from public forests to privately held land and “approved” development. This does not avoid the deeply problematic nature of this project for climate, ecosystems, Country and health that conservation groups have been pointing to for years.