High voltage: residents clash with company over $500 million battery project

Trina Solar held the first of two community information sessions at the Dederang Reserve clubhouse on Wednesday, May 29.

The company plans to build a 500-megawatt lithium battery system located about 1.7 kilometres south west of the Dederang Terminal Station on Yackandandah-Dederang Road.

This proposal follows a deal made last year by Mint Renewables with two landowners to create a 400-megawatt BESS.

At the meeting, residents in opposition to the project came with a clear message - "we don't want it ... pack your bags and go somewhere else".

About 35 residents entered the clubhouse at the start of the meeting, some wearing their CFA uniforms, raising concerns about fires, toxic smoke, environmental damage, noise and heat pollution, skyrocketing insurance premiums and the general industrialisation of the Kiewa Valley.

It was clear those in attendance see the prospect of BESS projects scarring the Dederang landscape as a battle for their home.

"You cannot guarantee that you will not affect the underground water, no matter what your engineer is saying," Sharon McEvoy said, breaking the initial silence.

"You're increasing the fire risk for our community, and we then have to be the ones to come and put it out. That's just not if the BESS catches fire. That is if there's a bushfire.

"We have to live, personally, we have to live next door to that in the building (phase). It's on significant landscape overlay. It's across waterways. It's going to make noise that will impact our life and our ability to work on our farm day to day."

The Battery Energy Storage Systems Guidance Report, developed by GHD for the Australian Energy Council in March 2023, states that water runoff at a BESS site can generally be contained using a "robust site drainage design".

However, air emissions cannot be contained and can extend to a distance downwind of the site.

Trina Solar have said it is "committed to meeting all relevant safety requirements and standards, especially regarding bushfire risk".

Jose Flores, head of development at Trina Solar, said the company planned to plant trees surrounding the site to mitigate noise pollution and visual impacts.

"We can address one by one all the concerns," he said. "For example, regarding the noise, we are really sure that we will have enough space between the nearest property to the power plant and there will not be any noise or any issue regarding that one.

"In the coming months, probably, we will have all the studies and all the reports in order to give you some comfort about that."

This answer did not satisfy his audience.

Kevin Grentell, whose house is located next to where the switchyard is planned to be, asked why the project's neighbours weren't consulted beforehand.

"Look, this is our backyard, and you haven't even come and seen us or asked us how anything goes," he said.

"You're supposed to be engaging the community. You haven't even come and seen the neighbours.

"If you build this, can you 100 per cent say that my family and I will be safe when one of these catches fire? You cannot guarantee that.

"If we're in bed, we're dead."

Neighbours were also concerned with the construction of a road to the site.

"There will be some bugs and some inconvenience for some neighbours in the active road. That's true. But it's something that we can deal with," Mr Flores said.

After the meeting, Mrs McEvoy said the bushfire risks in the area made it unsuitable for a BESS facility.

"We live and breathe fire every summer," she said. "Even now, you try to burn a little pile of rubbish and it takes off up the hill.

"If we get a hot, dry summer like those other years, every morning you get up and think about it. Every night you go to bed and think about it."

Mr McEvoy, dressed in his CFA uniform, said the local squadron was not prepared and did not have the resources to control a BESS fire.

"We wear our uniform because we need to say to these people that the CFA is really important to the community. We are here to protect the community," he said.

"(But) we can't look after (BESS facilities), because we are not trained. We do not have the equipment."

Mrs McEvoy added that, for her, personal safety would come before fighting a BESS fire.

"The first rule of being in the CFA is firefighter safety. That's our number one mantra," she said.

"Now, I personally will not feel safe going near a lithium-ion battery installation to fight a fire. Personally, for me, Sharon McEvoy, I don't think that I can do that and feel safe."

The Border Mail briefly spoke to Mr Flores before the meeting, although he said he could not provide an official comment on behalf of the company.

He said the company had much experience in similar renewable projects, and that all them received pushback initially, but communities often changed their mind once they understood more and the project was built.

Trina Solar also owns the Glenellen Solar Farm, located near Albury, which is currently being built.

Mr Flores said at this stage the company had no plans of building a solar farm in Dederang.

He encouraged people to email any questions they may have to kiewaValleyBESS@trinasolar.com

All environmental studies and impact statements will be made available to the public when Trina Solar submits their planning application in the coming months.