RELA is supporting landowners and developers to optimise coexistence between food production and renewable energy through their Assess 1.0 and Assess 2.0 platform – with funding support by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency in 2025 to ensure energy, agriculture and ecosystems can work in synergy by being fully informed about both land use.
In simple terms, coexistence refers to how renewable energy infrastructure, such as wind turbines, solar panels, battery storage, roads and wires, can operate alongside existing land uses and industries in a way that minimises conflict and maximises shared benefit. In Australia’s race toward net zero, regional land is increasingly being asked to serve multiple purposes. For generations, its value was measured in food and fibre; now societal demands and associated opportunities include energy, carbon offsets and biodiversity outcomes.
“Regional land has historically fulfilled one global demand – food and fibre,” said Michael Katz, Chief Executive Officer at RELA.
“But over the last decade, and particularly in the past five years, we have seen new macro-demand for energy, decarbonisation and biodiversity emerge. Land productivity in this new paradigm is about coexistence between these uses.”
Wind turbines on farms are perhaps the clearest illustration. Across the country, farmers are leasing parts of their properties for wind projects while continuing to grow crops and graze livestock.
“If you can understand how to layer food production with an energy or carbon project, you can optimise productivity and the benefits for the landholder as well as the wider region,” said Katz.
Lessons from the paddock Wind-farm projects have shown that coexistence is possible – but it’s not automatic. RELA’s experience suggests that the biggest challenges arise when communication breaks down and knowledge is unevenly distributed.
“There is a lot of information sitting in people’s heads – landholders, developers, lawyers, engineers – and the only way to achieve a balanced negotiation is to give everyone access to that knowledge,” Katz said.
That philosophy underpinned RELA Assess 1.0, the company’s first-generation land assessment platform. Developed to help landowners evaluate the suitability of a site for utility-scale wind or solar, Assess 1.0 provides a desktop assessment of factors such as grid proximity, land availability, topography, and environmental constraints. For landholders, the tool offers independent, fact-based insights into the potential value of land and its compatibility with renewable infrastructure – information that was once difficult to obtain.
“Our goal is to reduce information asymmetry. We provide landowners the facts so they can engage on an equal footing,” Katz said.
ARENA-backed innovation
Catching early recognition, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) supported the RELA Assess 1.0 project’s expansion, providing funding towards the development of RELA Assess 2.0 – the next-generation of the online portal that automates and scales the process. Running from February 2025 to March 2026, the project is designed to give landowners, farmers and rural communities easy digital access to insights that were once available only through consultants or developers.
“Assess 2.0 builds on our earlier manual process and turns it into a self-service platform. It brings together geospatial data, grid mapping and land-suitability modelling to provide rapid, data-driven assessments of renewable potential,” Katz said.
The tool will include new features, such as a Land Plan Builder that enables landholders to upload or outline their existing agricultural systems, as well as a Social Licence Index which highlights community and environmental considerations, such as neighbouring density, biodiversity values and competing land uses.
From transparency to trust
At its core, the Assess 2.0 platform is designed to build trust. By providing transparent data and a shared evidence base to facilitate informed negotiations, RELA’s intention is to build trust through those interactions.
“The only way to achieve coexistence is through collaboration. The only way to collaborate effectively is for all sides to be fully informed about their own interests and those of the other stakeholders,” Katz said.
Developers, too, stand to benefit.
“Developers told us they wanted the data layers that only landholders could provide – things like soil conditions, water access or seasonal movement patterns. They also asked that the social-licence indicator use a simple traffic-light format – a high-level guide rather than a prescription – and we have incorporated that,” Katz added.
Coexistence beyond infrastructure
For RELA, coexistence extends well past physical infrastructure. The company is also focused on financial and contractual alignment to ensure the long-term lease agreements underpinning projects are structured to meet both developer and farmer needs.
“A developer wants a 30-year linear, inflation-indexed lease linked to revenue,” Katz said.
“But a farmer’s financial needs are often non-linear – affected by drought, expansion opportunities or succession planning. So we have built a prepayment product that lets landholders access value upfront without selling their land.”
The mechanism allows developers to maintain their preferred long-term lease structures while giving farmers the flexibility to manage cashflow for operational or family needs. It is a financial reflection of the same principle driving the technology platform – alignment through understanding.
Building capacity across the sector Rather than chasing isolated showcase projects, RELA is investing in lifting capability across the entire ecosystem. Katz believes this is essential if coexistence is to become standard practice rather than an exception.
“There is probably no project that’s perfect and no project that’s doing it all wrong. Everyone is operating with the capabilities and templates available at the time. What we are seeking to do is find the best outcome available at any given time, and to raise overall capability,” Katz said.
That effort includes knowledge-sharing for regional lawyers and advisers through Continuing Legal Education sessions, exemplified by RELA General Counsel Jess Salvato’s recent presentation at the Rural Issues Conference in Sydney.
“We share what we have learned so others can apply it. Obviously, it’s great when they call us to implement the knowledge, but even if they don’t, the sector benefits,” Katz added.
RELA has also convened a Stakeholder Reference Group to guide Assess 2.0’s development; comprising 17 representatives across seven categories, those being Landholders, Landholder Advisers, Government, Agricultural Peak Bodies, First Nations representatives, AgTech specialists and Renewable Energy Peak Bodies.
“Every perspective is responded to. It might be included, deferred or marked as out of scope, but nothing is ignored. That process is central to building a platform that truly reflects the range of voices involved in coexistence,” Katz said.
Navigating urbanisation and land pressure
Beyond renewables, regional land faces mounting pressure from urban expansion. Katz says that this is not part of their business scope, but urbanisation is both a challenge and an opportunity like other land use changes.
“Decarbonisation, energy, regulation, biodiversity and urban growth – they are all new pressures on land, but they are also opportunities. What matters is understanding the trade-offs and giving landholders the tools to make informed decisions,” Katz said.
RELA’s Social Licence Index helps flag potential friction points early.
“If the index shows red or orange, that doesn’t mean you can’t proceed – just that you will need to invest into the management of those issues,” adds Katz. For landowners on city fringes, where future rezoning could lift property values, the organisation’s financial products also offer a way to participate in renewables now, without losing long-term upside. “Landowners can maintain ownership and still access the value of their lease,” Katz said.
From information to empowerment
Ultimately, RELA’s mission is to make landowners active participants in the energy transition rather than passive hosts. “No one party has all the answers, but we remain focused on making sure every stakeholder is fully informed and that the process is transparent and balanced,” Katz said.
This approach directly supports national goals. According to the Australian Energy Market Operator’s 2024 Integrated System Plan, the National Electricity Market will require a six-fold increase in grid-scale wind and solar by 2050 under its Step Change scenario – equivalent to three-to-six gigawatts of new capacity every year for the next decade. Meeting that target will depend on community confidence and cooperation.
By helping landholders and developers communicate on equal terms, RELA’s technology and frameworks address one of the transition’s most persistent bottlenecks, that being social licence.
A new industrial revolution in the regions
Katz believes this transformation could redefine Australia’s regional economy.
“We are going through one of the biggest transitions in modern history,” he said.
“From a regional perspective, it is similar to the industrial revolution – a change in the fundamentals of land economics,” he adds. For rural communities, that shift carries enormous promise. “If landholders approach this transition fully informed, it has a chance to redefine productivity. And with that comes decentralisation of wealth and opportunity that could last for generations,” Katz said.
“In RELA’s view, coexistence is not just about technology or land use, it is about designing a future where energy, agriculture and nature all belong and thrive together,” Katz concluded.