{"id":305159,"date":"2026-02-19T00:43:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T00:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/305159\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T00:43:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T00:43:10","slug":"renewable-energy-company-abandons-native-title-court-application-over-darwin-solar-farm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/305159\/","title":{"rendered":"Renewable energy company abandons native title court application over Darwin solar farm"},"content":{"rendered":"

A renewable energy company accused of “bulldozing the rights of Aboriginal people”<\/a> has withdrawn a court application linked to its proposed solar farm near Darwin.<\/p>\n

Traditional owners have welcomed the decision and say it “resets the clock” on the consultation process for the ambitious project.<\/p>\n

TotalEnergies H2 (TE H2) was seeking a ruling from the Federal Court that no native title claim exists at the company’s preferred site for its 2,500-hectare Wak Wak Solar Farm, in Humpty Doo on the outskirts of Darwin.<\/p>\n

This attracted strong criticism from Wulna traditional owners, who said the company’s approach to consultation would “erase the traditional owners’ connection to their traditional lands”.<\/p>\n

TE H2 previously said the application was a procedural requirement, which would help identify the correct traditional owners for formal consultation through the Northern Land Council, which represents Aboriginal people in this type of matter.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Access roads, offices, workshops and electrical equipment would also be built on the proposed site, 48km south-east of Darwin. (ABC News: Pete Garnish)<\/p>\n

After traditional owners voiced their concerns, the company withdrew the native title non-claimant application on February 12.<\/p>\n

In a statement, TE H2 managing director Kam Ho said the withdrawal of the court application reflected “good progress with the Northern Land Council (NLC) to confirm the native title party”.<\/p>\n

He said the TE H2 acknowledges “the significance of country and the importance of working respectfully with Aboriginal people”, and is working with NLC to finalise an Indigenous land use agreement.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the NLC confirmed it would work with both parties “to reach an agreement”.<\/p>\n

TO’s welcome decision<\/p>\n

Larrakia and Wulna man Nigel Browne said TE H2’s decision to abandon the application was “very welcomed” by his family.<\/p>\n

“It’s good to see that common sense has prevailed and that there is at least an indication now that the proponent will be speaking with our family groups,” Mr Browne said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Nigel Browne was the 2011 National Indigenous Legal Professional of the Year. (ABC News: Peter Garnish)<\/p>\n

Mr Browne said the first priority of Wulna traditional owners was the protection of country, and said he hoped any future Indigenous land use agreement would provide “tangible outcomes” for his family members.<\/p>\n

“We just are glad that we have now reset the clock and we have now got the ability to have those informed discussions and see where they lead,” he said.<\/p>\n

The Wak Wak Solar Farm is the first phase of a potential larger green hydrogen production and export project in Darwin.<\/p>\n

TE H2 plans to use Wak Wak’s capacity to generate up to 2.7 gigawatts of power to provide electricity for Darwin’s heavy industries, including gas processing.<\/p>\n

Eventually, the company would use the solar farm’s power to support hydrogen gas production at a proposed facility at Middle Arm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A renewable energy company accused of “bulldozing the rights of Aboriginal people” has withdrawn a court application linked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[53085,246,21669,34090,135721,61,60,143836,143841,140292,143837,143839,16389,82,7629,7617,116893,143840,143838],"class_list":{"0":"post-305159","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-aboriginal","9":"tag-environment","10":"tag-farm","11":"tag-green-hydrogen","12":"tag-humpty-doo","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-kam-ho","16":"tag-koolpinyah-station","17":"tag-native-title","18":"tag-nigel-browne","19":"tag-northern-land-council","20":"tag-renewables","21":"tag-science","22":"tag-solar","23":"tag-solar-power","24":"tag-traditional-owners","25":"tag-wak-wak","26":"tag-wulna"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}