Jindera Solar Farm

OBJECTION to Jindera Solar Farm
My property is located on Drumwood Road, Jindera which is 1.5km from the Jindera solar proposal and neighbours the proposed Glenellen solar proposal. Our land is used for sheep farming as well as growing crops.

I am objecting to the Jindera solar farm proposal and would like to raise the following concerns that I believe will adversely affect the success and value of my own land, should the project go ahead:

1. Close proximity to the township of Jindera (within 4 kilometres), which will restrict future growth;
2. Loss of high quality agricultural land;
3. Impacts on native vegetation and the loss of advanced remnant gums. Loss of habitat for both birds and animals;

In summing up I recognise the project has been deemed State Significant however in my opinion the residents in this area will be negatively affected by the construction of the solar plant at this site and I would hope the consultation with residents will prove that this site is not the best place for it. Most of NSW is currently deemed drought affected, but in our region farmers have been able to successfully grown crops and fatten animals. Surely we do not want to risk our arable productive land and turn it into an unsightly industrial hub.

We need to keep our most productive land for our future food security for the growing world population.

Please see attached submission.

Please find my submission attached

I object for the following reasons:-
Good farming land being used, put solar farms where there is arid land. No farms, no food, greater cost to everyone.
Devaluation of the land, no proof the land will come back from this.
Devaluation of properties in this area. People have worked hard to make their homes here and should not have to worry about not being able to sell for a good price due to a solar farm.
Loss of flora and fauna habitat.
Loss of cultural heritage sites.
The solar company is from overseas, we are selling off more of our country, we need our land for Australians.
Bush fire risk, this seems to get brushed under the carpet, anything I raised at The Hub when we spoke to the developers their answer was it will be fine that won't happen, that is not good enough clearly they don't know.
Restrict the future growth of Jindera as no-one wants to live next to a solar farm.
This is dividing the district and making things very uncomfortable for everyone.
The mental health of the residents here is at risk, you might have a property worth a lot of money to sell and retire off the money, then your property value will be drastically reduced and you have to worry where you will find the money to retire.
I don't like their oh that won't happen it will be fine.
There will be more dust, noise and glare in this lovely quiet area.
The roads out here are not great and all the traffic will simply make the situation even worse.
So much more traffic through Jindera township, I bet they don't know they are getting trucks through there every 14 minutes 6 days a week.
No benefit to any of the people living out here except those whose property it is going on and the foreign developer.

My objections outlined by attatchment

I object to the Jindera Solar project on a number of levels. These are numbered below.
Firstly, I object to the nomenclature of the Jindera Solar project, as a farm, where in fact it is a major industrial plant. This is a plant, where there is multimillion dollar infrastructure, major changes to the community, and long term impact to the community. In calling it a farm, there has been a lack of due diligence in the planning of this project. If this was considered a major industrial enterprise, there would be far more planning, consultation, and research into the contracted companies. The companies involved have little information on their financial success, which is important, as if these companies fold, there is uncertainty as to the future of the infrastructure on our community. The planning is rushed. In undertaking research about this area, I have discovered that this area was graded in the 1980s drought as occasionally arable land, which if due diligence was being undertaken, would be reviewed, as this is very reliable land for agricultural production. The timing of this is extremely difficult for farmers in this area, as in the midst of a statewide drought this area is producing hay, stock and grain, and they have a huge workload and stress in considering responses to this project.
Secondly, I object to the installation of these plants in an area that, unlike many other areas of the state, is not being residualised in population and demographic as other rural areas of NSW. As a resident and taxpayer in NSW, I am concerned that this area of the state is enjoying a growth in young families and diverse enterprise, with at least three subdivisions of housing in the area. All three schools in the township are experiencing growth, and two busloads of secondary students go to Culcairn, and two busloads of students to Albury. The size of the plants dwarf Jindera, one of the only towns in the Riverina that is growing. The impact on the infringement of the community needs careful, thorough and diligent consideration, and the long term future of the community needs to be factored into this project development. In a time where there are so many communities suffering from residualisation, due to drought and the Murray Darling Basin Plan impact, there are areas in the state that could much better support the development of such a large industrial plant. I understand that this is due to the location of the plants to the existing grid, but this again is a rushed decision – a new grid west of this area could much better support alternate townships, an injection of much needed infrastructure in residualised areas of the state.
Thirdly, I object to the installation of the Jindera Solar Plant on prime agricultural land. In the midst of a drought, this area is producing hay, stock and grain, with large numbers of neighbouring farming enterprises affected in proximity of the plants. I object to the removal of high numbers of old trees, creating salinity issues in an area that has never experienced them. I object to the removal of a sugar glider habitat, and there is much conjecture over the change in microclimate. I have seen the huge number of weeds under the recently opened Finley plants, and all the information regarding grazing opportunities are negated to me by what I have seen. In all of this, as a resident of the Jindera area, there are concerns about fire hazards, and even the insurance prospect of residents nearby has not been thought about. Farms neighbouring the plants may not be able to insure their properties, and so one neighbour will profit, and one neighbour will not be able to conduct business with hard to obtain public liability insurance. This, in a district with a number of small productive farms affects the long term health of a now-thriving community.
Ultimately, what I object to most is that in our state, we have always made haste slowly. There is a need to consider renewable energy opportunities, but to rush into such huge decisions, the considerations of location, local impact, productivity, community health, wildlife habitat and risk have not been taken into account in a thorough and timely manner.

I believe that if this solar farm goes ahead that it will be beneficial towards the community as there will be a couple hundred odd workers to install the solar farm, these workers will need to get a feed, fuel their implements, maintenance, accommodation, so on and so forth. I am a 7th generation Jindera young farmer that supports green energy as it is a cleaner way of generating energy for the local and surrounding communities.
With this proposed development the land holder is still allowed to have grazing rights so that they may still be able to produce a high quality product. Surrounding areas during the summer period are exposed to harsh winds of which cause the top soil to get carried by the wind causing dust storms, as the proposed site is going to be covered by solar panels, these will protect the land from erosion and block the winds from damaging the pasture crops. The panels will also protect the crops from frosts in winter so that the plants may still be able to grow providing grazing through out the whole year.

I have several reasons behind my objection to the Jindera Solar project. The first is the environmental impact on two fronts: initially, the landscape, and secondly, the unknown climatic implications for the area - there is no clear strategy at this point in time for the change in microclimate, as this is unknown. I also have issues with drainage, bearing in mind that this is effectively an extremely large project, which could cause serious flooding problems into the future. Furthermore, and certainly not the least of my concerns, is the obvious impact that this will have on property values, reducing the opportunities for sale further down the track. As my career for the last 45 years has been as an agricultural banker, I find it reprehensible that quality agricultural land in reliable climatic conditions, is being considered for this project. It should not be disregarded, as it would appear to be the case. The diminution of asset value will have impact on the asset position of individual farmers, resulting in reduced equity, and difficulties in ensuring financial health. All of these above factors have a detrimental impact on the mental health of many individual farmers and their families in surrounding areas, as the issue has overwhelmed a number of farming families. This is not going to affect a minor number of farmers, as so many farms are on the boundaries of these solar plants. In conclusion, I believe that there are many other areas far more suitable, that would cause far less disruption than on prime farming land such as ours.

I object to this development based on many reasons.
This development is to be constructed on productive agricultural land and due to my employment being part of an agricultural contracting business including hay and fodder production I understand the value of this land in an area that has good rainfall and ability to produce when other areas are struggling from drought. It is important to preserve the value of agriculture to ensure food production in our country can continue and avoid the need to import and continue the multiplying economic benefits that agriculture brings to many in our community and Australia wide.
Jindera is a growth area of Greater Hume Shire and this development will inhibit the ability of the area to grow. Many existing homes will be affected by this development and the change of the landscape from agricultural to an industrial look will affect those living in the area, it may devalue the land having financial consequences and in turn cause stress in the community. This development is being undertaken by a foreign company and I believe that agricultural land with the strong ability to produce should remain under Australian ownership for agricultural production.
As a member of the RFS, I am greatly concerned about the bushfire impact this may bring to our area. I understand Solar PV developments have significant workplace health and safety issues and believe that if a fire is to break out in the solar development that local RFS members that are NOT HAZMAT trained or equipped will not be able to enter and therefore it will be necessary to fight any fires from outside the development on neighbouring land. This will definitely bring an increased risk not only to myself as a volunteer RFS member but also the neighbouring landowners and also the nearby town of Jindera.
My young cousins go to school in Jindera and I also understand that this development will bring quite substantial truck movements through town and I am concerned this will be a great risk to school children and the community.
I feel exceptionally worried for the landowners in the area, I believe this development will bring great disturbance to the area and will affect the mental health of the surrounding neighbours and nearby community.
Agriculture in our country is in a dire state with drought, Murray Darling Basin and fire and I strongly object as I believe that the agricultural land proposed for this development should be retained for agriculture and absolutely refute that the sheep grazing proposed by developer will be anywhere close to the agricultural capacity that currently exists on this arable land including that which has been cropped in the past.

This really is a very ordinary site, part way through my last comments for submission the site kicks you out and even though I saved each paragraph when completed I cant find my previous comments once I managed to log back in.
I was a t the point of alluding to the lack of diligence portrayed by the Finley Solar Farm companies efforts in delivering the conditions of consent in relation to dust, noise and weed control, this solar plant just recently commissioned had virtually no impact on dust control, photo to follow, and the weed source on the solar field is as a diligent farmer downright scary. I visited the site on Friday morning, the underlying vegetation below the panels was a mixture of Barley Grass (Horedeum glaucum), Patterson's Curse (Echium plantagineum), Fleabane (Conyza species), Bathurst Burr (Xanthium spinosum) and Horehound (Marrubium vulgare) all unwanted and declared weeds. This leads me to the question of DPIE's compliance unit which appears non existent from a regional and rural perspective, how are we to have any faith in the processes if this is what transpires. Furthermore, all the channels and dams had been filled in as part of the process of construction, with no troughs provided there was no water available and guess what, no sheep grazing either.
My objection is on many levels, however time does not allow me to have an depth dialogue in relation to the pitfalls and erroneous information delivered by the proponents. However a snapshot appears below:
Adverse Environmental Affects - Dust, noise, Glare, toxic emissions, loss of flora and fauna habitat
Adverse Social Affects - Dividing the district and neighbourhood, I had a recent incident where I was driving my truck passed my neighbours (Glenellen host) as he was struggling to get hay in before imminent rain I wheeled in and offered my assistance, I was told my help wasn't wanted and was asked to leave the property, entirely because I am campaigning against the solar wave in our secure farming district. Over 60 immediate landholders affected by this proposal and a myriad of others within close proximity
Adverse Economic Affects - loss of prime agricultural land and not just under the panels, neighbouring properties will be affected by heat island affect, rising water tables through tree clearing all affecting the productivity of neighbouring land; solar companies are all foreign owned no local income, living off handsome government subsidies gained from our taxes; devaluation of our neighbouring properties diminishing our lifetime investments
other noteables - increased bushfire risk and release of toxic smoke, major insurance issues in relation to neighbouring landholders and their ability to secure public liability insurance post solar plant construction, major traffic management issues on small country roads.
We are not the major power users out here, we are most certainly not the polluters out here, we actually process the urbanised pollution and turn it into soil carbon, plant growth for food and the very oxygen you breathe, so it makes perfect sense to obliterate that process moving forward to make inner city dwellers feel good about themselves by placing solar plants over the nations food bowl.
CO2 neutrality - in an effort to minimise CO2 production, we Australia are expected to minimise the worlds CO2 issues when we are one of the lowest level polluters on the planet whilst the heavy polluters increase their CO2 output daily. You cant think for one minute that mining our coal and iron ore, shipping it to China for production by the worlds worst polluter then shipping it back as renewable products will have any chance of being CO2 neutral within 20 years of production.
I could go on however time does not permit, as previously alluded once I return from the northern fires I will have more in depth dialogue and photos for your perusal
Many thanks
Jim Parrett

I object to this project because they are using prime agricultural land that is still productive in a dry year.
I also am unhappy with the effect this project will have on land values and feel that it will decrease them greatly.
I feel it will restrict the future growth of the Jindera township and surrounds.
I am disgusted that these projects can remove long establised trees and the filling in of farm dams.
I am concerned that the construction of the project will cause an influx of light and heavy vehicles on our local roads that are not up to scratch for such traffic.
I and very concerned of the bush fire risk this project will cause and the inability to fight fires in the confines of the project.
I am unhappy that these renewable companies are foreign owned.
This project has divided the district and neighborhood and caused much angst and concern.
I am concerned of the glare the panels will cause.

I wish for my objection to this project to be noted.
I have great concern on the grounds that I believe the nature of this development will detract from the current agricultural landscape changing it to and industrial zone.
This land is currently productive agricultural land including cropping which whilst other areas are suffering from drought, water and fire issues will continue to produce food for our country.
I do not believe that the small number of sheep that is being said will be grazed after the solar panels are constructed is the retention of agriculture and the production capacity will be significantly diminished. As retired farmers we understand the value of the land in this area, we have great rainfall, good soil and the ability to produce when others north and west can not. These solar developments should be placed on much less arable land and allowing the application for these developments in this area does nothing to make the Government construct grid lines to other arid areas where these developments should be placed.
I am worried about the increased truck movements through town and also my grandchildren attend school in Jindera and I am concerned about their safety being a concern.
Jindera is a growing town and I believe that should a large solar development be approved that this will change the view of our area and growth will stop. Many are worried about a reduction in their value of land which will create increased stress in addition to the physical construction impacts (dust, noise etc) which will affect the many neighbouring landowners.
I am worried about the increased bushfire risk and the ability of volunteers to fight any fires as am aware they will not enter due to workplace health and safety issues.
This project has divided our community and has seriously fractured relationships. I am also seriously worried about the ecological loss, the loss of trees, flora and fauna including squirrel gliders, curlews, flame robins and frogs.
Please accept my strong objection to the Jindera Solar Development.

Dear Sir/Madam
Please accept the attached submission re the Jindera Solar Farm.
Stephanie Klein

I object for the following reasons:-
Good farming land being used, put solar farms on land not suited to farming. No farms, no food, greater cost to everyone, we should be able to grow our own food not have to import it.
Devaluation of the land, no proof the land will recover from this in 30 years.
Devaluation of properties in this area. The other home and land owners out here shouldn't have to worry about not being able to sell their properties for a good price later just because one or two people want to put in a solar farm.
What about the effect on the environment, the solar farm will make things hotter, that is no good to anyone, what effect will that have on those living closest.
What if the company goes broke, that stuff will be there forever.
I cannot see how this solar farm is going to be of any benefit to me, the neighborhood or the environment.
If you keep putting good farming land under solar panels there will be no farm land left.
The solar company is from overseas, we are selling off more of our country, we need our land for Australians.
Bush fire risk, this seems to get brushed under the carpet, anything I raised at The Hub when we spoke to the developers their answer was it will be fine that won't happen, that is not good enough clearly they don't know.
What about flooding due to filling in most of the dams.
This will restrict the future growth of Jindera as no-one wants to live next to a solar farm.
This is dividing the district and making things very uncomfortable for everyone.
The mental health of the residents here is at risk. The strain on people so far has been huge. One day people may want to sell their property and retire, as these days it is preferable according to the government that we are self funded, the property prices will plummet with a solar farm next door, think of the mental anguish the older people in this area will go through as they face the worry that they will not have enough money to live out their life.
I don't like their oh that won't happen it will be fine, that seemed to be the answer to most of our questions, not good enough.
There will be more dust, noise and glare in this lovely quiet area.
The roads out here are not great and all the traffic will simply make the roads even worse.
So much more traffic through Jindera township, I bet they don't know they are getting trucks through there every 14 minutes 6 days a week.
No benefit to any of the people living out here except those whose property it is going on and the foreign developer.
Loss of flora and fauna habitat.
Loss of cultural heritage sites.

I object to Jindera solar farm as it is close to my home and farm .

I purchased the farm to be in rural community not next door to a solar farm

The solar farm is on prime rural land

The farm will reduce the value of my property

The solar farm will look different and be on our way to town and be unsightly

Attached is letter of objection.

Hi, as the owner of a small but growing business located in Jindera, I would like to express my strong objection to the proposed solar farm at Jindera and those in the surrounding area .
My business, like many others in Jindera and surrounding small towns, relies heavily on farmers and their sub contractors for its income and our communities need farming and farming related families to remain strong and to grow. The combined impact of these solar farms, being in close proximity of each other, will have a long term detrimental effect on our businesses and our towns.
It is obvious that existing Jindera electrical substation heavily influence the choice of land,with little thought given to the lands rich productive history . Keeping the cost down for the developers appears to be the main priority.
Whilst I acknowledge the need for alternative energy, I believe we must adopt a much more sensible approach when choosing locations, after all, we can all turn a few lights off to save electricity, but we can't eat it.
Regards

Submission Attached