Solar and battery project targeted by Barnaby Joyce gets federal green tick

After facing down years of opposition, the contentious Middlebrook solar farm in the New England region of NSW is now free to start construction after the federal environment regulator said the project didn’t need its approval. 

The 320 megawatt (MW) solar farm and 300MW/780MWh big battery proposed for a site south of Tamworth was open for public comment under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) process in February.

Owner TotalEnergies, a subsidiary of global oil giant Total, sent the giant project into EBPC queue on the grounds that there were some threatened vegetation communities on the site.

There was also the potential for koala and the bird species rainbow bee-eater and satin flycatcher to use the site, although only the rainbow bee-eater was heard. 

With the EBPC decision that it’s not a controlled action in hand, the project now has state and federal approvals to go ahead.  The project received approval from NSW’s Independent Planning Commission (IPC) in November.

The project was sent to the state’s final arbiter after it received 116 objections, around quarter of which came from the local area (within 5 kms), and about 40 per cent from more than 100 kms away.

Public submissions for the state planning application began in 2023.

The main concerns were about local traffic, and land use, with a number of objectors expressing concern about food security.” I am here to fight for your food,” one objector told the IPC in one of its hearings. “This is … a human rights fight and we are talking about food for all Australians.”

Projects with more than 50 objections must be seen by the IPC, even if they don’t come from the affected area – or even from in the state. 

One of the highest profile objectors was National MP Barnaby Joyce, who has been a vehement anti-renewables campaigner.

He urged in a Facebook post for people to lodge objections. “You don’t have to live in the areas [to file an objection],” he said. 

In response to the submissions, TotalEnergies altered the site design to concentrate the battery on one site rather than distributing it across different parts of the project, added new site access points, and reduced the size of a bridge over a creek.

The IPC says it granted approval because of its location close to existing electricity transmission networks, and the “topography, solar resources, avoidance of major environmental constraints, access to the State and regional road network and potential for continued use of the land for grazing.”

The project is located next to the main highway and on the same piece of land as the 320kV transmission line that runs through the region.

Middlebrook will take up to two years to build.

TotalEnergies has been contacted for comment.

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