Belco backlash: Barr writes to Minns over Wallaroo solar farm

The ACT Government has made its concerns about the siting of the proposed Wallaroo solar farm known to the Minns Government as more Belconnen residents become aware of the massive renewable energy development just across the border.

Ginninderra MLA Tara Cheyne, who attended Thursday’s public meeting in Murrumbateman with the NSW Independent Planning Commission, said Chief Minister Andrew Barr had written to Premier Chris Minns requesting that ACT residents be more included in the consultation.

“The Chief Minister has written to Premier Minns seeking support that the Commission’s process provides appropriate opportunities for ACT and cross-border residents to engage and provide input, given the only hearing proposed so far was a four-hour commitment beginning at 10 am on a weekday in Murrumbateman,” she said.

Ms Cheyne said she wanted all residents and businesses within proximity of the proposed solar farm site to have an understanding of what is proposed and have ample opportunity to comment.

She said residents in Dunlop and Macgregor lived less than one kilometre away from the proposed site, which was also very close to the Ginninderry proposed Future Urban Area, and there was only one road into Wallaroo – Wallaroo Road – that starts within the ACT border off the Barton Highway.

The risk of bushfires is also believed to be an ACT concern.

The Commission will decide on the $166 million proposal from New Energy Development and Univergy International, which will involve the installation of 182,000 photovoltaic modules on steel piles and associated infrastructure, including battery storage and a substation connected to nearby transmission lines.

The proponents, who will lease the land, say the project will feed electricity into the transmission network and be capable of producing enough clean, renewable energy to supply about 48,000 homes in NSW and the ACT.

But nearby residents and landholders say it will be an eyesore and impact the rural character of the area, the environment and tourism, as well as pose noise, dust and pollution risks.

The ACT Government’s current interest is a far cry from that in 2022 when Liberal MLA Elizabeth Kikkert asked a number of questions about the project in the Legislative Assembly but was told by Water, Energy and Emissions Reduction Shane Rattenbury that the project was in NSW and she should seek answers from the proponents.

But the ACT election will be held in October and the Belconnen-based electorate of Ginninderra is probably the most unpredictable of the five.

The Belconnen Community Council, which does not hold a position on the project, feels it has not been consulted, despite being considered a special interest group.

The Council was only contacted on 14 June 2023, a week before submissions closed on 20 June 2023.

Chair Lachlan Butler, who lives in Dunlop and briefly attended on Thursday, given it was a work day, said a lot of people were feeling shut out of the process.

He said thousands of people lived along the border and they should not be excluded from the consultation.

Mr Butler said the proponent was almost exploiting a loophole because of the border.

He said the fact that it was a renewable energy project could have swayed the ACT Government earlier, but it should be more involved.

“If someone was proposing a nuclear waste dump in Queanbeyan … I don’t think the ACT Government would say, ‘Oh, well, it’s in New South Wales’,” he said.

A key point in the debate is that in NSW these kinds of developments would not be sited within 5 km of a major suburb or town.

Mr Butler said the project should not be an exception because of an invisible border.

“At the end of the day, if it stacks up and they follow all the rules and not pretend like thousands of people don’t exist, and if they consider all that and they would do the same thing in Sydney or Wollongong or another area, I think that would probably take a little bit of attention out of it,” he said.

Opponents have said they are not anti-renewables but that the proposal is in the wrong location.