A large standalone battery project proposed on land once used as a gravel pit, and under a maze of transmission lines, has been given its final planning approval after being forced to an independent panel by dozens of long distance objections.
The 120 megawatt (mW), 480 megawatt hour (MWh) Deniliquin battery, to be sited next to an existing substation just outside the town of the same name in south-west NSW, received no objections from the town’s 2,700 residents, or anyone within 50 kms of the project.
All 66 objections to the $210 million project came from more than 50 kms away, with 60 of them from people located more than 100kms away, and 26 of these were from interstate.
Nonetheless, the existence of more than 50 submissions meant that the project proposal had to be referred by the department of planning to the Independent Planning Commission to review.
It called for more submissions and offered to listen to the community at meetings in Deniliquin, but only heard from two, and also had a chat with council, which indicated its support for the project, which will generate $1.4 million in community benefits for the local council area.
This week the IPC announced that it approved the project, saying that the issues that had been raised – local traffic, fire risk, accommodation for construction workers, visual and environmental impacts, could be comfortably managed.
It said all 10 government agencies had approved the project. “The commission finds that the impacts on the local community will be limited,” it wrote.
As Renew Economy wrote in December, the quality of the opposing submissions is not high. Renew Economy read every single one, and it was striking that many are similar to the objections lodged to the smaller Hume North battery project near Albury that we also reported on last year.
Like those who opposed the Hume North battery, and other projects 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.
The IPC has also started reviews of another two solar and battery projects – Dinawan and Burroway – after those projects received more than 50 objections, again almost entirely from long-distance objectors.
See: Another two big solar and battery projects sent to independent panel by long distance objectors
However, another standalone battery project, Iberdrola’s Kingswood battery near Armidale, has been forced to an IPC review after mostly local objections, with many concerned about the number of battery projects seeking to connect into the same sub-station.
See: New England locals force huge battery project proposal to go before independent panel
See also Renew Economy’s Big Battery Storage Map of Australia for more information.
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