Long distance antis force review of big battery on edge of town, despite no opposition within 50 kms of project

A big battery project sited on degraded land next to an existing electricity substation, and located five kilometres from the nearest town, has been forcibly referred to an independent planning review despite receiving no objections from any person or organisation within 50 kms of the project.

The standalone Deniliquin battery is to be sized at 120 megawatts (MW) and 480 megawatt hours (MWh), and is sited next to existing infrastructure, under a junction of transmission lines and on land already badly degraded by its former use as a gravel pit.

It is located five kilometres from the town of Deniliquin, but none of that town’s population of more than 2,700 people objected to it. All 66 objections came from more than 50 kms away, with 60 of them from people located more than 100kms away, and 26 from interstate.

It is becoming a familiar pattern for many renewable and storage projects in NSW, and other states, and has been one of the highlights of the Senate inquiry into misinformation and disinformation on climate and energy.

NSW is particularly vulnerable, because under its rules any project that attracts more than 50 objections – regardless of their location, quality or sincerity – must be reviewed by the Independent Planning Commission, who calls for submissions and organises public hearings.

In the case of the Deniliquin battery, the quality of the opposing submissions is not high. Renew Economy has read every single one, and it is striking that many are similar to the objections lodged to the smaller Hume North battery project near Albury that we reported on earlier this week.

Like those who opposed the Hume North battery, the objectors to the Deniliquin battery are nearly all anonymous, although there are some familiar names and some recognisable themes and terminology. The word “renewaBull”, for instance, appears regularly in submissions to this project, as it has in others.

Indeed, there were no objections that related specifically to this project, its location or its impact on any local fauna or flora.

It is likely that few if any of the objectors had actually read the project documents in detail. Several objectors think the battery is actually a wind farm, and others think it is a solar project.

One is concerned about its impact on the catchment of the Keiwa River, which is 250 kms away, located in another state and on the other side of the Murray River. Maybe they had been encouraged to complain about another project, and forgot to change it for this one.

Most simply don’t like the idea of renewables: “Soon, we’ll all be in the dark thanks to delusional Global Boiling cultists!” said one.

Some object to the use of agricultural land for a big battery.

But the project is located right next to a substation, and is not used for any grazing or crops because it has been degraded by a gravel borrow pit on the site, which has formed a depression with poor soils and weedy vegetation.

The battery project developers are actually proposing to do something the previous users didn’t do – rehabilitate it so it can actually be used for agriculture in the future, perhaps sheep grazing. The department of planning said it is likely the project would improve the land, not degrade it.

There were plenty of constructive consultations, mostly with local council and other bodies such as the Rural Fire Service, the local Fire Brigade, the local irrigation council, and other entities. The developers, Avenis, responded accordingly and made some adjustments to the project.

It has waded through thousands of pages of documents and patiently responded to each and every concern, no matter how wild the claim.

The NSW Planning department noted the considerable local benefits, saying some $1.4 million in community benefits had been offered via the council through a voluntary planning agreement, and also noting the injection of some $206 million of capital investment into the NSW economy.

The IPCN will hold a public meeting in early December. It shouldn’t take too long to come to a conclusion.

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