Two massive wind and battery projects held up by weight of objections, including 13 signed by one individual

Two massive wind and battery projects in the south-west of New South Wales have become the latest to be referred to the state’s Independent Planning Commission because of the number of mostly long distance objections.

The Baldon wind project, a 1.4 gigawatt facility proposed by Chinese wind giant Goldwind and Omni between the towns of Balranald and Hay, would be one of the biggest in the country and one of the first to include batteries installed next to individual turbines. It received 73 objections.

The smaller Mallee wind project, put forward by Spark Renewables for an area in between Mildura and the Buronga substation along the new interstate transmission link, proposes a 402 megawatt (MW) wind facility supported by a 100 MW, 200 MWh battery, and received 119 objections.

Both were referred to the IPC last week because of state rules that requires any project attracting 50 or more objections to undergo further security, although those rules have now been changed because the government fears the process has been deliberately hijacked by anti-renewable groups.

State planning minister Paul Scully said nine out of 10 projects were being affected by long distance objectors, adding an average 300 days to the planning process. He has now changed the rules so that only those projects with 100 or more objections from within the state are referred to the IPC.

“The Independent Planning Commission plays an important role in the planning system, but objectors from interstate and overseas have turned what should be a clear pathway into a clogged pipeline,” Scully said in a statement last month.

The overwhelming majority of objectors to both the Baldon and Mallee projects are anonymous, live at least 100 kms from the projects or even interstate, and include many of the same groups and individuals that object to other projects, including the likes of the now disbanded Rainforest Reserves and “Save our Surroundings” organisations.

A striking aspect of the Mallee objections is the number (13) signed off by one person, Bob Wheeler, either in an individual capacity or as representative of a company or stakeholder group. Wheeler authored four objections from one entity alone.

The 130-plus page submissions response report filed on behalf of Spark works through these submissions piece by piece, and it notes that 13 of the 14 submissions filed from people within 5 kms of the project were either authored by Wheeler, or referred to different projects and had identical complaints.

“Nevertheless, for the purposes of this analysis, these submissions have been identified as individual submissions that relate to the Project, and the issues raised within the submissions have been duly addressed within this Submissions Report,” the report says.

Another objector was the mining company Iluka Resources, which is concerned that the turbine layout may overlap a potential mineral sands resource that it fears it will not be able to exploit if the wind farm goes ahead.

A public hearing for the Baldon wind and battery project has already been called and will be held in Balranald on October 8.

The submissions report notes that just over 10 per cent of objections came within 20 kms of the project, including one from a group that was concerned about the noise impact on residents of an aged care home located 13 kms from the boundary of the project.

The Baldon project includes the potential for 175 turbines, but a first stage is likely to be sized at around one quarter of that size – at 360 MW of wind and 64 MW, 128 MWh of battery capacity.

Its ability to the grid depends largely on other projects awarded grid access rights not going ahead, or additional capacity added to the south-west renewable energy zone.

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