'Extremely disappointed': Lake Hume residents protest battery storage plans

Foresight Group purchased the property located on 32 Trout Farm Road, Lake Hume Village, from Stuart Lucas in December 2022.

The company plans to build a new battery energy storage system (BESS) with a capacity of up to 74 megawatts and two hours of storage.

"We're obviously extremely disappointed with the way things have turned out," Mr Lucas told The Border Mail.

"The land is too beautiful to be flattened and turned into a battery."

Before Mr Lucas purchased the hobby farm "roughly 20 years ago", it was the residence of Norman and Alison Douglas, who established the Hume Weir Trout Farm. The trout farm was located on what is now a neighbouring property.

"We wouldn't have sold the property to this company if we knew it was going to become a battery," Mr Lucas said.

"We looked after the land exceptionally well and it's a magnificent place.

"It's got a history about it, and I expect the Douglas (family) are going to be a bit disappointed because it has Alison and Norm's ashes scattered there.

"They were very passionate about it and they wanted to sell it to someone that was going to look after it."

Mr Lucas said the property was home to more than 120 bird species.

"Each time it's changed hands, it's been advertised as a bird lover's paradise. And we managed it that way," he said.

"There's an ibis rookery and water birds on the other side of the river. They all go through that area, flying through the property when they've got young.

"It has exceptional biodiversity values. Not just bird life, but also squirrel gliders."

Foresight Group has said the proposed development will seek to avoid impacts to squirrel glider habitat through:

Murray Pigdon, the owner of Lake Hume Resort, echoed Mr Lucas's concerns and questioned if the project would impact residential and commercial development in the future.

"Albury is expanding at a rapid rate," he said. "And that little corridor will be a magnificent corridor for the town.

"So I'd hate to see something that's going to be detrimental to our town."

A smaller iteration of the proposal, subject to various "environmental and grid constraints", received development approval in 2021 and was projected to cost $32 million.

The new development, with more than three times the storage capacity, would replace the previous plan if approved. The budget for the current project has not been finalised.

The earlier development was to be connected to the Hume Power Station, also owned by Foresight. The new project will be connected to Transgrid's transmission line on the Albury to Hume Power Station line.

"There will be no changes to the Hume Dam or any of the water pipe and pump infrastructure," a spokesperson told The Border Mail.

Foresight is preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to outline the economic, environmental, and social impacts of the proposed development. This statement will include detailed studies to assess potential impacts on the local community and visitors during construction, operation, and decommissioning.

Once complete, the EIS will be submitted to the NSW Department of Planning, Housing, and Infrastructure as part of the State Significant Development Application. The department will then hold a public exhibition of the EIS, allowing the community to understand the impacts and make submissions.

The project's timeline depends on receiving necessary approvals, including development approval and grid connection milestones. If approved, construction would begin in early 2025.

Foresight said it would return the site to its original state, with all above-ground BESS infrastructure removed at the end of its 20-year life span.

"Foresight has a stringent policy to ensure all our projects operate within their social licence. Abandoning projects is not an option for us or our investors," a spokesperson said.

Thermal runaway

Anthony Gye, a neighbouring resident to the development, fears that forever chemicals such as hydrogen fluoride could contaminate Lake Hume and the Murray River if a fire ignites at the site.

His property is the site of the former Hume Weir Trout Farm.

"They want to put this on a hill - quite a substantial hill," Mr Gye said.

"So once the (toxic run-off) enters our property from the eastern boundary to the western boundary, there are continuous drains, ponds, subterranean piping, which all lead to the Murray River.

"These battery sites are notorious for a phenomenon called thermal runaway, which, once it starts, is extremely hard to stop."

Thermal runaway is a chain reaction within a battery cell, Mr Gye explained. It occurs when the temperature inside a battery reaches a critical point, causing a chemical reaction that produces more heat. This heat drives the temperature higher, leading to further chemical reactions.

Mr Gye pointed to the Battery Energy Storage Systems Guidance Report, developed by GHD for the Australian Energy Council in March 2023, to outline the dangers associated with a BESS fire.

"Despite the many advantages that electrochemical storage presents, from an asset and public safety perspective there have been numerous self-heating and thermal runaway incidents associated with Li-ion batteries," the report states.

"These events have increased the awareness of thermal risks associated with Li-ion BESS installations, and have highlighted that there are 'unknown unknowns' associated with large-scale electrochemical storage."

The report goes on to say that the two primary impacts of a BESS fire are:

While water runoff can generally be contained using a "robust site drainage design", the report states that air emissions cannot be contained and can extend to a distance downwind of the site.

"Thus, is the potential for people in the vicinity of a BESS facility fire to be exposed to hazardous gases such as asphyxiants and irritants."

The report said gases that may be emitted include:

Foresight group said it would be prepared for any emergency scenarios.

"As part of meeting Australian and international standards, the battery manufacturer has conducted extensive testing and developed best practices for several emergency scenarios, including thermal runaway," a spokesperson said.

"These findings will directly contribute to our preliminary hazard assessment, which is a key component of the Environmental Impact Statement report. This report is scheduled to be publicly exhibited later this year as part of the project's publicly exhibited Environmental Impact Statement.

"Elements of the project's civil design include a retention pond designed to capture runoff directly from the site. This runoff will be collected and analysed. If necessary, it will be transported off-site to appropriate facilities for further handling or disposal."

Foresight said Albury Council was a key stakeholder in the project, "and we have made sure to incorporate their feedback, particularly concerning water use, traffic, and the economic opportunities associated with the project".

David Christy, Albury Council's service leader of city development, said the proposal was too premature to provide a comment.

"The proposal is defined as State Significant Development, which means that council will be a referral authority, but determination will be made by the NSW government," he told The Border Mail.

"The application has not yet been formally referred to (the council) to enable full and due consideration, so we're unable to make further comment at this stage."