Integrated social impact and community-benefits planningRenewable Energy & Energy Transition· 🇦🇺 Australia

Mackenzie River Solar Farm & BESS

Client

British Solar Renewables (BSR)

Location

Isaac Region, Central Queensland, Australia

The challenge

BSR is developing a 450 MW solar farm plus 350 MW BESS near Middlemount - a mining-influenced region already carrying a functional housing shortage, long childcare waitlists, constrained services and workforce transience. A 30-month construction with a peak workforce of up to 400 threatened to intensify those pressures; workforce accommodation and procurement models would determine whether project spend benefited Middlemount or bypassed it entirely.

Our role

Engaged directly by BSR to prepare the Social Impact Assessment to Queensland requirements and international good practice, and to translate findings into an implementation-focused SIMP and SIA-aligned advice for community benefit planning across housing, childcare, health, traffic, procurement, workforce integration, Traditional Owner participation and landholder coexistence.

Approach

Mixed-method, participatory. All landowners within 8 km were briefed, two public drop-in sessions in Middlemount attracted approximately 90 and 145 attendees, plus targeted interviews and workshops with residents, businesses, education and childcare, service providers, emergency services, Traditional Owners, Isaac Regional Council and regional development stakeholders. The assessment separated existing conditions, project exacerbation, new project impacts and benefits, and tested lower, central and peak workforce scenarios including a town-based versus camp-based workforce model.

Outcome

The SIA gave BSR, Council and stakeholders a clear line of sight from what the community said to how the project should respond. Housing was identified as the most significant social risk; the SIMP converted findings into a practical framework for implementation, monitoring and adaptive management, and the CBA process was strengthened by clearly distinguishing required mitigation from additional community enhancement and legacy investment. A proposed strategy was framed to reactivate around 100 vacant or uninhabitable mining-owned houses.