Goulburn River Solar Farm

I have several points of objection: -
4.0 The Project & 7.5.1 Access to property
As a Landowner in Coomealla Hulks Road who has already identified with Upper Hunter Shire Council the risks and dangers of Bow Crossing & Killoe crossing ( 2 separate vehicle accidents into the river this year) and that Ringwood Road and Wollara Road are already in poor condition with increased erosion and corrugating being unacceptable and dangerous. The only option for "The Project" must be to redevelop and tar seal these crossings and roads. This entire road is already under stress due to increased traffic, this being an a arterial road to Bylong and the National Park and now with this "Project" the increase in heavy vehicle traffic poses a huge risk should the roads and crossings not be fully upgraded and tarred. The greater issue is the further risk of damage to vehicles.
As you have clearly identified Transport for NSW and Crown Lands as key State Government stakeholders of consultation, onus must be placed on them to fully commit to new crossings and fully tar sealed roads.

6.0 Engagement
Your graph shows two key components of engagement of which as a Hulks Road Land Owner I have had no consultation either via mail, email or verbal. You clearly state your Consultation has been with Landowners in the area and residents of nearby communities. We consider ourselves to fit into both of these consultation categories and have had no insight into this Project until 4 weeks ago when a neighbour raised this with all Coomealla Land Owners. Due diligence and acceptable consultation with all landowners has not applied.

As our property backs onto the far side of the National Park and we can clearly see the "proposed Solar Farm" cleared area, we are extremely concerned and seek further information as to how you propose that we will not have unacceptable glare from 950,000 panels.

I believe this project is vey sound from an environmental viewpoint. In an attempt to curve greenhouse emissions this project will be an outstanding contribution to the cause.

Options are being explored for tarring the road to the solar farm versus increased grading budget to service the unsealed road. As a resident of Hulks Road the poor condition of this road with local traffic will be stressed even further when adding the volume of trucks associated with this development. I believe that tarring the road is the only option that should be pursued given the scale of the project and the length of time this will be in operation. Significant risk of damage to vehicles for residents and the public accessing the Goulburn River national park will occur if the option of maintaining an unsealed road is chosen.

For the longer term benefit of tourism (access to Goulburn River National Park) and residents (minimising damage to vehicles from extra traffic including heavy vehicles caused by the development makes tarring the road the only real option.

I am writing to object to the Goulburn River Electricity Generating Works, due to a failure to implement adequate recycling facilities to be able to cater for the materials created by this project, negating the purpose of the project.

Please find my OBJECTION to the GOULBURN RIVER SOLAR project below:

I object strongly to this project on the unassailable solid engineering based ground that solar and wind generation cannot under any circumstances provide steady reliable power to a power grid. The
inherent capacity factor averages around 30% and there is no known or potential generation technology anywhere in the world that can provide
adequate fill-in generation for solar and wind systems, except coal, gas or nuclear based systems. Accordingly these system should not be
built at huge expense to the public purse followed by vast ecological destruction during building and subsequently when these systems fail and
hardware has to be disposed of.

Secondly I object strongly to these systems based upon the fact that they rely on mining by child slave labour in under-developed countries.
Australia should NOT support such reprehensible actions.


Yours Sincerely

John McBratney

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John McBratney B.Tech (Electronic Engineering)
Telecommunications Engineer (Rtd)

The Hay Riverina State Group object to the Goulburn River Electricity Generating Works construction.
This construction will despoil the local environment. It will replace necessary agricultural ground with ugly renewable electricity generating equipment.
Further this equipment is of an inherently unreliable nature, and the cross subsidization by existing electricity supplies will greatly increase the cost of electricity to all users.
Further, the placement of this equipment will destroy the environment of all the native animals in the relevant area.

I object to the Goulburn River Electricity Generating Works construction.
This energy zone is set to do more harm to the environment than it will save. I haven’t heard of one energy zone that has lived up to its projected outcomes yet! It is a huge blight on the area and it’s about time that our great land was protected from this useless monstrosities.

It won’t be long before these technologies will be outdated and better forms of renewables will be available. Hence the decision to move forward with this project is premature due to the huge footprint it requires on our great land and it’s waterways.

I object to the Department’s plans build a solar farm on prime agricultural land. We need to preserve our food growing farms and ensure food security.
In my opinion it is madness to build such ugly environmental eye sores whose intermittent energy supply is totally unnecessary.

I am objecting to the solar farm because:
1. If the solar panels ever catch fire for any reason, it will end up being a carcinogenic nightmare to anyone that is nearby due to the toxic materials used in the construction of the solar panels.
2. Due to the toxic nature of the materials used in the solar panels, I am also concerned that a lot of toxic residue will leak into the ground and find its way into the water table, and worse, into the Goulburn River.
3. Due to the nature of solar panels, they work intermittently weather dependant and therefore very unreliable. A complete waste of Public Subsidy Money.
4. I am also concerned about the disposal of the solar panels they reach their end of life. It concerns me that they will end up in land fill breaking down and leaching toxic material into the surrounding area.
5. The solar panels being adjacent to the Goulburn River National Park, an enviromentally sensitive area, will end up being visual pollution in a beautiful part of the country.