Met-Mast Rules & 3-Year Validity

Since August 2023 this Notice recognises only offshore (not onshore) met masts for offshore-wind permits and sets a three-year validity: the developer must apply for the Electricity Business License within three years of the met-mast permit. Introduced with tighter capital and construction-period rules to curb reckless applications and met-mast squatting ahead of the Special Act's planned-siting regime, it was followed by the Special Act's bar on new met-mast public-waters permits outside planned zones. Attached Table 2 requires measurement data for 365 days or more with availability of 90% or more, except for small wind power, and sets an offshore device's effective area as the sea area within a 7 km radius. Where effective areas overlap, priority follows installation permit dates, but an offshore device not installed within 12 months is excluded from priority, with periods of unavoidable causes not counted.

Sources: Notice on Detailed Criteria for Electricity Business Permits, Attached Table 2.

Attached Table 2 of the Notice sets the criteria for wind resource measurement and for overlapping wind power sites, applicable from 1 August 2023 (Article 39, item 2).

1. 1Wind Measurement2 authorizations
2. 2Electricity Business License (EBL)1 authorization
3. 3Environmental Assessment2 authorizations
4. 4Site Investigation2 authorizations
5. 5Public-Waters Use & Navigation Safety2 authorizations
6. 6Cross-sector Consents5 authorizations
7. 7Construction & Operation2 authorizations

Stages where risk concentrates. See the full permit pathway ›