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State Significant Development

Assessment

Tomago Battery Energy Storage System

Port Stephens

Current Status: More Information Required

Interact with the stages for their names

  1. SEARs
  2. Prepare EIS
  3. Exhibition
  4. Collate Submissions
  5. Response to Submissions
  6. Assessment
  7. Recommendation
  8. Determination

Development of a 500 MW / 2000 MWh battery energy storage system and associated infrastructure including grid connection.

Attachments & Resources

Notice of Exhibition (1)

Request for SEARs (1)

SEARs (1)

EIS (10)

Response to Submissions (2)

Agency Advice (35)

Additional Information (1)

Submissions

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Showing 1 - 20 of 24 submissions
PORT STEPHENS COUNCIL
Support
RAYMOND TERRACE , New South Wales
Message
Attachments
Name Withheld
Object
LAKE ALBERT , New South Wales
Message
I OBJECT TO THIS TOMAGO BESS JUNK PLAN AS IT’S ALL BASED ON LIES & DECEPTION - JUST LIKE DODGY AEMO’s TOTALLY FUDGED, GENERATOR BENEFITING - CONSUMER RIP-OFF JUNK ISP!

MY FAMILY & I DO NOT CONSENT TO THIS CONTAMINATING, ECOCIDAL, ENERGY POVERTY SWINDLE that’s part of the FAKE GREEN SOLAR/WIND GRIFT & PONZI SCHEME/SCAM THAT’S CRUELLY TORTURING EVERYDAY AUSTRALIANS WITH GOVERNMENT INFLICTED COST OF LIVING CRISIS!

WE NEED TO TAKE A CHAINSAW TO THE EVIL BUREAUCRACY RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS DELUSIONAL, DESTRUCTIVE, ANTI-AUSTRALIAN AGENDA - OFFERING US THE WORLD & PAYING US WITH TRASH!!

References:
TWO NEW PRECEDENTS HAVE BEEN SET by Oxley Bridge Rd Uranquinty Solar Determination 24th Nov 2022 - NEW MODERN SLAVERY CONDITION & AMENDED STORMWATER MANAGEMENT PLAN (re CONTAMINATION.)

**Professor Ian Plimer's 3 minute presentation regarding Solar Panel Contamination Risks.
PPSSTH-149 - DA22/0122 - 1268 Oxley Bridge Road Uranquinty 2652
https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/planning-panel/electricity-generating-works-solar-farm-8

**Hail Storm Photos & Industrialised Solar Contamination Risk to Our Reliably Productive Food Bowl at Bomen, Wagga Wagga Photo are included via this link also - the Hail Stones & some of the Fractured Solar Panels from the damaging 31st Oct 2020 event that left masses of broken Solar panels in situ for a shocking 10 - 11 months without Due Care - with some panels still remaining fractured & leaching contaminating heavy metals years later!

1. NEW MODERN SLAVERY CONDITION- requiring proof prior to construction that NO Slave Labour supply chain components be used in construction.
**New Condition Inserted C4A - Dealing With Modern Slavery.
Commonwealth Modern Slavery Act 2018

*NSW Local Council Act 1993
428 Annual Report
438 ZE Duty to Ensure Goods & Services Are Not Procured From Modern Slavery.

This applies to all NSW Government Bodies - including Councils - for those who Host, Procure or have a Power Purchase Agreement with Solar/Wind Energy Generation/BESS whose construction has used Modern Slavery Supply Chain Sourced Components
eg. City of Sydney, the Opera House, Kiama, Shoalhaven, Shellharbour Councils & Westpac, etc. have an unethical PPA with Spark Infrastructure’s Xinjiang Jinko Solar based Bomen Solar - unethically Hosted by Wagga City Council.
REROC has an unethical PPA with Iberdrola - with Xinjiang JA Solar based Avonlie Solar - unethically Hosted by Narrandera Shire.

2. AMENDED STORM WATER MANAGEMENT PLAN CONDITION re-CONTAMINATION – QUALIFIED TESTING/REPORTING, CONTAMINATION RESPONSE PROCEDURE, etc.

**Amended Condition C8.
Prior to Commencement of Any Works - Storm Water Management Plan.
On Site & Discharge From the Site.
Testing Points & Regular Water Samples, Suitably Qualified Person.
Written Response Procedures if CONTAMINATION is Found - required PRIOR to CONSTRUCTION.
Availability of Results.
……………………………..

Dr James Cockayne
NSW Anti-slavery Commissioner
M: +61 0455 255 453
[email protected]

Carolyn Kitto ‘Be Slavery Free’
Ph: 0438 040 959
[email protected]

Ramila Chanisheff
Australian Uyghur Tangritagh Women's Association - AUTWA
University of S.A
Ph: 0461 402 531 706
[email protected]
---------------------------------

Slave Labour Supply Chains
Missing Information Thwarts Ethical Sourcing
Murphy and Crawford’s report, Over-Exposed: Uyghur Region Exposure Assessment for Solar Industry Sourcing

**The graphs indicating companies & solar panels connected to Xinjiang are in the following 2 links:-
https://desdemonadespair.net/2021/05/forced-labor-from-chinas-uighur-muslims-behind-global-supply-of-solar-panels.html

**Xinjiang Solar Panels - Uyghur Slave Labour/Concentration Camps/Genocide - 'In Broad Daylight' - Professor Laura Murphy
https://www.shu.ac.uk/-/media/home/research/helena-kennedy-centre/projects/pdfs/evidence-base/in-broad-daylight.pdf

**The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner For Human Rights
https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/countries/2022-08-31/22-08-31-final-assesment.pdf

**Australia ratifies International Forced Labour Protocol | Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Minister for Women Marise Payne
https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/marise-payne/media-release/australia-ratifies-international-forced-labour-protocol

**Implementation of the Magnitsky Act is another avenue to ensure this shamefully unethical industry is not exploited in Australia.

**BLOOD BATTERIES - THE DARK SIDE OF ELECTRIC VEHICLES - Gravitas Plus YouTube
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RFHvq-8np1o

**THE DISTURBING REALITY OF COBALT MINING FOR RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES.
“CLEAN COBALT IS A FICTION – THERE IS NO CLEAN COBALT - IT'S ALL MARKETING!”
People need to get educated so they are agitated about it enough to do something to change this.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/mining/harvard-professor-explains-heartwrenching-source-of-electric-vehicle-iphone-batteries/news-story/db881f47c76db89581409c092a740c4c
Joe Rogan exposes sad truth about cobalt used in electric vehicle, iPhone batteries |news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site.
Cobalt is in all iPhones, tablets & crucially EV's - it maximises charge & stability.
Before anyone knew what was happening the Chinese Government & Chinese companies took control of almost all of the big mines in the Congo, with the local population displaced & the Congolese people under duress - digging in subhuman, gut wrenching conditions - using all raw human force - clanking the cobalt out of the ground!
Throughout the whole history of slavery, never has there been more suffering that generated more profit than was linked to more lives of people around the world than what is happening today in the Congo - mining cobalt in appalling, heart wrenching & dangerous conditions.
…………………
**Sediment Run-Off Contaminating Land/Water - Court Case -
“Created, Operated, and Maintained a Nuisance”
Solar farm runoff pollutes property, couple awarded $135 million - CFACT
https://www.cfact.org/2023/06/06/solar-farm-runoff-pollutes-property-couple-awarded-135-million/
By Bonner Cohen, Ph. D. |June 6th, 2023
25th Oct 2023 update …A federal judge has dramatically reduced a jury’s $135 million award to a Georgia couple (https://www.ajc.com/news/couple-awarded-135m-after-solar-project-turns-their-lake-to-mud-hole/BZ6BYXQREJCDROQV6ZASUW5WOI/) whose property was fouled by muddy runoff from a solar project next door down to $5 million, after objections from the plaintiffs in the case.
In an order issued Monday in the Middle District of Georgia, Judge Clay D. Land wrote that the punitive damages awarded to the couple were worth many magnitudes more than the property that was damaged, and therefore were excessive.

**The Starting Step for the Production Of Pure Silicon....SiO2 + C -> Si + CO2 ....IS the Heart of the Solar Panel!

**Every step in the production of Solar PV power systems requires an input of fossil fuels - as the carbon reductants needed for smelting silicon from ore, to provide manufacturing process heat and power, for the intercontinental transport of materials, and for on-site deployment.
https://www.azbackroads.com/around-the-west/rangefire-massive-amounts-of-coal-and-wood-must-be-burned-to-create-solar-panels/

**200 Million Tonnes of Toxic Solar Panels Destined For Landfills Near You
stopthesethings.com

**SARET Research - Fire and Rescue NSW have NO IDEA How to Deal With RISKY RenewaBULL Experiments - YET This TOXIC MORAL HAZARD is Deliberately Forced on us by the Dodgy, Deceitful DPE & Complicit IPCN!
https://www.fire.nsw.gov.au/page.php?id=9402
“There is a general lack of guidance and provisions in building codes, standards, and legislation in relation to safety to address the potential risks from these emerging technologies. Part of the problem is that we do not yet know enough about their probability of failure, their mechanisms of failure and potential consequences of failure.”

**The 'Sunk Cost' Trickery That Makes Renewables Seem Cheaper Than They Are - 23rd July 2023.
https://www.fresheconomicthinking.com/p/the-sunk-cost-trickery-that-makes?utm_medium=web
AIDAN MORRISON
How CSIRO justifies the exclusions: “Sunk Cost”
But wait, this deception is so brazen and transparent…….
All of these tens of billions of dollars of projects are explicitly excluded from the cost of integrating renewables.

**The $10 billion cabal of renewable subsidies killing coal - Alan Moran - 24th July 2023
https://www.regulationeconomics.com/_files/ugd/b6987c_a76d14823d6342a298b70841f99b7f71.pdf
Sally Edwards
Object
Coolah , New South Wales
Message
Please find attached my objection submission. Thank you for considering my objection concerns.
Attachments
Climate and Energy Realists Queensland
Object
BUNDALL , Queensland
Message
Lithium batteries are dangerous and toxic if they combust, as demonstrated by the Bouldercombe fire recently. They provide back-up measured in minutes, not hours, and will be totally inefficient in the case of a major power outage.
Hunter Environment Lobby Inc
Support
EAST MAITLAND , New South Wales
Message
Please respond that you have received this submission
Attachments
A Cairns
Object
GUYRA , New South Wales
Message
“AGL received planning approvals for its proposed 250 MW gas-fired peaking unit Newcastle Power Station from the state government in March 2021.

Newcastle Power Station (NPS) is proposed for the same parcel of land that the Tomago BESS is planned on.”
Ok. Why will you create a Toxic Environment , Worse than Liddel ? I need you in Jail, my government, Australian, and NSW, and SA, and Bourke Council Harm and Loss Entity to the Food Bowl of Australia I Eat from. I Eat Food, ORGANIC Only, Made in Australia, by the Land, I need, and I Do Need, Free of Chemicals by 2022, NB, 2022. Lockdown didn’t go on long enough to Get People Aware of Corruption in government, world, Australia, a Harm and Loss Entity, supporting The Worst Future So Far, NB So Far, in a Dry Continent, our government are completely Unaware of. Shame on you in my government, I say. Shame on you for Increasing the Toxic Future you have No idea is Toxic, do you ? If you did you would Cease and Desist BESS Immediately, Immediately, Immediately, but you have Not, and Therefore I Demand you Go To Jail, Directly To Jail.
EcoNetwork Port Stephens Inc.
Support
SALAMANDER BAY , New South Wales
Message
Submission attached - support in principle but seeking changes to reduce environmental impact
Name Withheld
Object
FORESTVILLE , New South Wales
Message
I object to solar, wind and battery projects. In my opinion, they will do far more damage to the environment than coal, oil and gas ever did. Beautiful farmland is being destroyed by these toxic projects with no regard to the lasting damage they will do when they no longer work. Toxic chemicals seeping into the land, birds, insects, etc. being killed by wind turbine blades, it is frightening.
Name Withheld
Object
DEE WHY , New South Wales
Message
I object to this project. The cost of converting to renewable energy is astronomical and we simply cannot afford it. It is also obvious that there is no way the world has enough materials to achieve the goal of green energy. We must also consider the fact that we are able to produce more food more cheaply and efficiently because of fossil fuels and until we have a viable alternative we should continue the way we are. I do not believe the science backs up the supposed benefits of renewable energy. We do not want to become a third world country because of our ideological stupidity. We have beautiful agricultural land being covered by unsightly solar panels and wind turbines which incredibly contain materials made from fossil fuels, the very things they seek to replace! Koalas and other native animal habitats are being destroyed to make way for these projects not to mention the birds, insects, etc. killed by the wind turbines. How is that greening Australia? Fossil fuel industries have contributed huge taxes to fund our country’s schools, police, hospitals, NDIS, etc., how will we be able to fund them without these taxes? I think we all want a cleaner, greener environment but not at the risk of destroying our countryside and our way of life.
Name Withheld
Object
COLLAROY , New South Wales
Message
I strongly object to this project. I am all for saving the planet but this project, along with many others, is not the answer. We don’t seem to care about the insects, magnificent birds, etc. that are being killed by wind turbine blades. Solar panels are taking over much needed farming land and from my understanding, solar panels and wind turbines have a certain amount of fossil fuel derived components in them anyway so what’s the benefit? Let’s go nuclear.
Name Withheld
Object
MAYFIELD WEST , New South Wales
Message
I object to the whole renewable energy saga. Wind turbines and solar panels contain steel which is made from coal – what’s renewable about that? What happens to them after their useful life – are they dumped in landfill? They are a blight on the landscape and taking valuable agricultural land which should be used for growing food. Our agricultural exports are worth about $80bn annually. Quoting from a recent article in the Australian "Each year, on average, each Australian farmer feeds 150 of their fellow countrymen and 450 of their allies overseas." I've no doubt the $80bn of exports contributes to supporting the NDIS, schools, hospitals, etc. Australia's agricultural industries are world leading - we must not jeopardize this
Name Withheld
Object
OLD TOONGABBIE , New South Wales
Message
I object to these renewable projects. There are so many toxic materials in batteries, often mined in poor countries by little children. Toxic materials are also found in wind turbines and solar panels which is so bad for the environment. I have seen reports of wind turbines and solar panels being dumped in landfill when they are past their use by date which is incredibly harmful to the environment and will leave that land useless for many years to come. No, No, No - Stop them now!
Name Withheld
Object
Coolah , New South Wales
Message
The consumer will pay.

The environment will be irreversibly damaged.

The developer will profit.

Industry and consumers will be left with unreliable and unaffordable electricity.
Name Withheld
Object
COOLAH , New South Wales
Message
I object to the Tomago BESS SSD-57107216

Batteries use lead, lithium and cobalt, all of which are hazardous materials. This is of much concern to residents and the community as ordinary fire suppression measures cannot extinguish a Lithium chemical reaction fire. A fire that occurred in the 350MW/450MWh BESS during testing on 30 July 2021 in Geelong, Victoria shows how dangerous it can be for nearby residents. When one of the 13 tonne battery packs caught fire, it burned for three days and resulted in the evacuation of residents because of the toxic fumes generated.

I urge DPE to listen to those most heavily impacted by this project and to consider the cumulative impact on the district by multiple developments. This project should be rejected.
Name Withheld
Object
DEE WHY , New South Wales
Message
I object to this unnecessary, unreliable, non-base load power source that is expensive and pays scant attention to damaged fauna habitat. I urge the Government to go nuclear hitched up to the existing grid. We will eventually go nuclear so why not now?
Save Our Surroundings (SOS)
Object
Gulgong , New South Wales
Message
Save Our Surroundings (SOS) objects to proposed BESS Works in this project because there are still so many unresolved concerns about risks and issues involved with Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), for instance:
1. Lack of research into the life-cycle of BESS
2. Resource intensive requirements
3. Involves slavery in mining and production
4. Environmentally damaging
5. Fire starting risks increased
6. Fire-fighting dangers increased
7. Local fire risks considerably increased
8. Expensive
9. Short life-span
10. Variable operation
11. Very little Australian content
12. Increased energy and sovereign risks
13. Roads and road travel are impacted
14. Electricity charging and air-conditioning requirements are high
15. Classed as hazardous goods
16. No certainty at end of the short life of a BESS
17. Increased dependency on intermittent electricity generation
18. Poor viability
19. Increase retail electricity prices.

Please refer to the attachment for details
Attachments
Name Withheld
Object
GULGONG , New South Wales
Message
I object to this Electricity Generating Works proposal because I cannot support a project that relies on slave labour to provide its Tonnes of large-scale toxic batteries.

Despite decades of rolling out wind and solar plants in many countries the CO2 emissions still rise every year. Wind and solar projects, including this proposed stand alone BESS project, just make no difference. This BESS will increase atmospheric CO2 and increase our NEM electricity system costs to me and other end consumers. I object to any project that costs me heaps for no benefit at all. Don't approve this useless project!
Name Withheld
Object
GULGONG , New South Wales
Message
My oppositions to this proposed project are many but in particular I am very concerned about the use of industrial lithium batteries. They require many minerals to be mined, including in wilderness areas, that are toxic and, in some cases, require the use of slave labour to keep costs down. The recycling of thousands of Tonnes of lithium batteries is not yet viable and, due to their short economic lives, will pollute our environments in a few short years. They pose fire and toxic smoke risks to fire-fighters and nearby residents and towns that will continue to occur despite the claims by the Proponent.
Ian McDonald
Object
WALCHA , New South Wales
Message
The concept of lithium battery storage is physically, economically and environmentally flawed. Batteries can never facilitate renewable energy to be dispatchable 24/7. They are a total waste of taxpayers money and are causing willful harm to the landscape in pursuit (mining ten fold that of fossil fuels) of the rare earths required their manufacture.
What is critical to any modern economy is reliable, affordable baseload electricity generated by anthracite (black coal), natural gas and nuclear. Not geopolitacally sensitive and environmentally unfriendly batteries made in factories controlled by the CCP, thus threatening our National Security.
Name Withheld
Object
MOLLYAN , New South Wales
Message
I OBJECT TO THIS PROJECT. The BESS set-up has been proven to be not only an eye-sore, but dangerous and toxic to the environment, animals and communities surrounding it. There needs to be a halt on renewable energy before too much of our landscapes are destroyed as a result of morons making decisions in their lofty towers.

Pagination

Project Details

Application Number
SSD-57107216
Assessment Type
State Significant Development
Development Type
Electricity Generation - Other
Local Government Areas
Port Stephens

Contact Planner

Name
Cameron Ashe