Residents of West Belconnen believe the decision to propose a sprawling 165-hectare solar farm in NSW, right on the north-west border at Wallaroo, was made to take advantage of the ACT's inability to intervene in the process.
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There is also the growing feeling by ACT residents that their government was blindsided by the proposal and only now is beginning to understand how it will impact the territory.
Aggrieved community members, many from Wallaroo but others from West Belconnen and elsewhere, gathered at the Murrumbateman Recreation Hall on Thursday to voice their concerns about the proposal to representatives from the NSW Independent Planning Commission.
The range of objections varied but many of the key considerations from Wallaroo residents were around the effect the 182,000 rotating panels will have on residents' views, their property values, the potential fire risk, and the enormous volume of heavy vehicle traffic that will be generated during the construction phase.
However, opposition to the massive solar farm is also gathering significant momentum in the ACT, with Canberra residents concerned about the lack of consultation.
Belconnen Community Council convenor Lachlan Butler said the BCC had been listed as a special interest group by the developers but the council officially was contacted on June 14, six days before submissions closed.
Dunlop resident Marilyn Gendek, who addressed the meeting, said the first she had heard of it was when a flyer landed in her letterbox last month.
"ACT residents have been treated as invisible and irrelevant to this proposal," she said.
"If this was over the border, it wouldn't be allowed because it would fall well within the five-kilometre buffer zone required from a major residential area.
"I've no doubt that this was sited deliberately in NSW because they [the developers] knew they didn't have to worry about planning requirements beyond the border.
"Don't these two governments talk to each other about things which affect people on both sides of the border?"
Chief Minister Andrew Barr has written to NSW Premier Chris Minns to seek greater clarification and one of his most senior ministers and member for Ginninderra, Tara Cheyne, attended the Murrumbateman meeting. The nature of the correspondence has not been disclosed.
While a sizeable proportion of West Belconnen falls within a five-kilometre radius of the solar farm, the NSW government's draft new energy guideline offers no clarity around proposed buffer zones to major residential areas.
The Wallaroo solar farm has been designated a NSW state significant development and so requires the sign-off from the Independent Planning Commission. The NSW government is under intense pressure to grow its renewable generation capability as major coal-burning generators come offline.
The Liddell power station closed last year and the Eraring power station at Lake Macquarie is next in line to close in August 2025.
Nationally renowned winemaker Nick O'Leary, whose winery in the district attracted 20,000 visitors last year, was alarmed that in all the submission documentation, no mention was made of how such a large-scale development would impact the local tourism industry.
"I've been in contact with tourism authorities on both sides of the border and neither knew about this," he said.
"This proposal is over the hill from my winery but will it deter people from visiting our winery or Michael Anderson's at Brindabella Hills winery? We don't know because no one thought to ask.
"Like a lot of people who came to this meeting, I'm hugely supportive of renewable energy because we have 700 square metres of solar on our winery shed and roofs.
"But it seems to me that from what I heard and read, this looks like a good idea but rushed through, poorly researched and in completely the wrong place."
