Queensland LNP calls in four-hour big battery that local MP claims is a threat to the Barrier Reef

A Queensland big battery project that was aiming to begin construction later this year, and is contracted to provide grid stability through the federal government’s Capacity Investment Scheme, will have its fate decided by the state planning minister after being officially “called in” on Thursday.

Potentia Energy’s 300 megawatt (MW), four-hour Capricorn battery energy storage system (BESS) in Bouldercombe, in Queensland’s Rockhampton region, was sent to Jarrod Bleijie’s Ministerial call-in list in January at the request of Rockhampton deputy mayor Drew Wickerson and local LNP member for Mirani Glenn Kelly.

On Wednesday, Bleijie gave notice that he has decided to call in the project, to “ensure a strong and rigorous assessment” of its development application, and to address a range of community concerns detailed by Kelly and in public submissions.

Bleijie says there were 157 “properly made” public submissions made in response to the development application when it was before the council, and 324 “representations” received on the proposed call-in for the Capricorn BESS.

He says the letter from Kelly detailed concerns around a lack of community engagement, noise and light impacts of the battery, and environmental impacts including land and water contamination, “with the potential to damage neighbouring agricultural land … [and] the Great Barrier Reef if contaminated run off enters the Fitzroy Basin.”

“I have received requests to call in the development application from the State Member and the Council, in which strong community opposition to the proposal is identified,” Bleijie’s call-in notice says.

“The representations received in response to my proposed call in notice also demonstrate a significant community interest in the proposal.

“The nature of the proposal is that it has the potential for benefits with respect to electricity storage and generation but also social, economic and environmental impacts, and these have not been assessed and decided by the Council,” the minister says.

“The call in process provides an opportunity to undertake a comprehensive assessment of the application and ensure all matters relevant to the proposed development are fully assessed including but not limited to infrastructure, environmental and community considerations.”

As Renew Economy, has reported, the Capricorn BESS is one of three big batteries that has either been called in or proposed for call in by Bleijie, including Inberdrola Australia’s Gin Gin battery, which joined the list just last week.

Also there and officially called in are two wind farms being developed by Cubico Sustainable investments: The 700 MW Marmadua Energy Park and the massive 1.32 gigawatt (GW) Middle Creek Energy Hub, both proposed for the state’s Western Downs region.

It’s a nervous wait for the projects, following Bleijie’s shock decision last May to cancel the planning permit for the Moonlight Range wind project on the grounds of “minimal and insufficient” community consultation after he issued a similar call-in notice to the already-approved development in January of 2025. 

And Bleijie is not alone in his apparent antipathy to renewables. Since coming into government in late 2024, the Queensland LNP has torn up the state’s renewable energy targets, and vowed to keep its state-owned coal fired generators operating until 2050, in some cases.

Locally, as Renew Economy has reported, Kelly was instrumental in encouraging Bleijie to cancel Moonlight Range. That project’s developer, Greenleaf Renewables, is seeking to overturn the decision, but Bleijie has been emphatic that he is not for turning. “Over my dead body will it ever be approved,” he said last year.

According to Bleijie’s notes, a council assessment of the Capricorn BESS development application had recommended on December 09 that the project be approved with conditions. No decision was made, however, and on December 10, Potentia launched an appeal in the P&E Court againstthe Council’s “deemed refusal” of the application.

Potentia, which submitted its development application to the Rockhampton Council in February of 2025, says it has engaged proactively with local government and community throughout the development application planning and assessment process and will continue to do so.

“Potentia Energy’s $500 million Capricorn BESS project would create significant job opportunities and benefits to the community and First Nations people, with over $3.5 million in community benefits and up to 300 jobs in construction and 10 high-paying ongoing jobs,” a company spokesperson told Renew Economy in an email.

“We are committed to working constructively with the Deputy Premier, the Rockhampton Regional Council and the local community throughout this objective assessment process.” 

In 2020, Rockhampton Regional Council approved a controversial urea-ammonium nitrate liquid fertiliser manufacturing and storage facility to be built around five minutes’ drive from the site propose for the BESS.

Meanwhile, the Queensland Crisafulli government has announced the release of 18 new “highly prospective” petroleum and gas, coal and mineral exploration areas to secure a pipeline of future energy and minerals projects. 

In a media statement published on Thursday, the government says areas opened to a competitive tender process include 12 petroleum and gas areas totalling more than 7,000km² – about twice the size of Townsville – in the Bowen/Surat and Cooper/Eromanga Basins, and four coal areas totaling approximately 235km² across the Bowen/Surat basins.

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