Beryl Battery Energy Storage System

I object to the proposed electricity-generating works as it poses a serious risk to Wangaratta’s special water catchment. The increased exposure to toxic contamination from industrial activities will jeopardize the water quality, essential for both agriculture and human consumption.

The Wangaratta planning scheme protects state-significant agricultural land, yet this project disregards that designation. Building infrastructure on versatile farmland will disrupt productive agricultural operations, which are critical to the region's economy.

Submission objecting to the Beryl Battery Energy Storage System (BBESS) that it should be declared a controlled action and not be approved to be built.
Battery Energy Storage Systems claim that “The intermittent nature of wind and solar resources creates the need for ‘back-up’ capacity to support any supply gaps”.
This statement alone clearly sets out. That by their intermittent and unreliable nature of electricity production, (because of an unreliable supply of ‘weather’ fuel) solar farms and wind farms. Should never be considered as an economic or dependable electricity generator for supplying baseload electricity to a modern electricity grid. To add a BESS to the mix, does not produce one MWh of power and only increases the price to the end user. High prices do as much damage to economies as shortages of supply.
To explain why Solar panels are completely economic. Solar panels are powered by a weather fuel, Sunshine. At 12am, every day, the Solar fuel tank is empty and will remain empty for the next seven to eight hours, until the Sun rises at 7am or 8am. If the weather is fine there may be six hours of viable fuel (10am to 4pm) and a further three hours (8.30am to 10am and 4pm to 5.30pm) of less viable fuel available. For a total of nine hours of fuel availability. But even this is very uncertain, because of the presence of fog, overcast cloud cover and rain, the fuel tank can suddenly become empty at any time. The amount of fuel available may be reduced to four hours or even on many Winter days, zero, with no electricity being produced. Beginning between 5pm and 6pm, the Solar fuel tank becomes empty and remains empty for the next fourteen or fifteen hours. This means the fuel tank that supply the solar panels is empty for a minimum of fifteen hours of everyday and could even be empty for the whole day, with no electricity being produced.
As for connecting the BBESS into the Grid. Adding the BBESS to the mix, does not produce one MWh of power and actually loses 16% of the power, it may have been charged with. This is because of having to convert the current from AC to DC going into the BBESS. And again converting the current via Inverters from DC to AC current when transferring out of the BBESS. This loss via conversion only increases the price to the end user. High prices do as much damage to economies as shortages of supply.
I believe it would be highly irresponsible to grant a planning permit or allow construction of the Beryl BESS Project, as rather than being able to make a positive contribution to the Grid, its inclusion would be totally negative and uneconomic.
Further points of objection.
1. Consisting of so much compact electrification, the BBESS will create an extreme fire hazard to surrounding areas, particularly on a Total Fire Ban Day with the temperature at 43dC and a NW wind blowing at 50km/hr. Being so tightly packed together it would almost be impossible to contain a fire started within the BBESS perimeter. The fact that burning Lithium batteries give off a very toxic smoke, fighting the fire would be very dangerous for fire fighters. The surrounding land owners should be very concerned about their welfare.
2. If a fire was to occur the risk of soil contamination, would be very great. With unknown consequences.
3. If it should be approved to be built, then it should be mandated that the BBESS have a Public Liability policy to cover fire and other possible damage to surrounding areas of at least $500million to $1billion.

4. Unless the BBESS puts up a restoration bond, there will be nothing stopping them from walking away and leaving the local Council and community with a very expensive noxious, Junkheap, that will desecrate the whole area.
For the above reasons I strongly believe the Beryl BESS should be declared a controlled action and the project be not given approval to be built.

Objection documents attached

I object to the Beryl BESS project.
Why is our government forcing FIRE HAZARDOUS infrastructure and UNRELIABLE energy on our nation at the expense of rural Australia?!?
Save the land that produces food and fibre for Australia. Put these elsewhere!
These projects are destroying rural Australia!!

Battery energy storage should be built in high density city areas as this is where the power is needed. There will be high transmission losses due to the long distance sending electricity from battery storage such as the Beryl proposal near Gulgong. Given that many city electorates are pushing for these 'clean' projects to be built, battery storage projects should be built in those electorates. This would store the power where it is most needed and signal to all communities that people who vote for 'clean' energy are not Nimbys.

I’m writing to object to the proposed Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in Gulgong, specifically due to the unacceptable risks related to water usage and fire hazards. The plan outlined in the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) fails to adequately address these concerns, and moving forward with this project is reckless.

Water Usage – A Serious Concern
The BESS construction will demand 8.5 megalitres of non-potable water annually, which is a massive drain on local resources in a region that already struggles with water availability. Gulgong’s water sources are crucial for farmers and residents, and this project threatens to severely disrupt our access to these essential resources. Suggesting that this amount of water use will have minimal impact on the groundwater is dismissive, at best. The idea that local farms and homes could lose critical water supplies to support a construction project is simply unacceptable.

There’s no guarantee that the “minimal water use” during operation will offset the damage done during construction. For an area that already faces drought conditions and limited water access, taking a gamble on this amount of water usage is a risk we shouldn’t have to bear.

Fire Hazard – A Recipe for Disaster
The EIS also acknowledges the risk of thermal runaway and battery fires but downplays the severity of these risks. This is a bushfire-prone area, and introducing large-scale batteries is asking for trouble. The so-called "mitigation measures" like firewater supplies and vegetation management are not enough to guarantee our safety. Local fire services are not equipped to handle a full-scale battery fire, and the consequences could be catastrophic for the community, farmland, and surrounding bushland.

If this facility catches fire, it won’t just be EnergyCo’s problem—it’ll be a community-wide disaster, and the effects could spread far beyond the project site. Pretending that a few management plans and design tweaks will eliminate that risk is irresponsible.

Bottom Line
This BESS project poses serious threats to our water resources and significantly increases the fire risk in a vulnerable rural area. These are risks that we will have to deal with—not the companies behind the project. The community should not be forced to sacrifice water, safety, and livelihoods to make room for a project that clearly hasn’t been properly planned with the region’s needs in mind.

I strongly urge you to reconsider this proposal and take these real, practical concerns into account before pushing ahead with a project that could cause irreparable harm to Gulgong.

I object to the Beryl BESS project.

Lithium-ion batteries are a fire hazard as evidenced by the increasing number of battery fires around the world. They are difficult to extinguish and the toxic fumes will require multiple local residents (there are 28 residences within 2km of the proposed site) to be evacuated for their safety.

It is too close to existing residences and Gulgong township is only 6km away.

The cumulative effects of multiple projects in the area mean that Gulgong is already negatively affected by approved and operating solar and BESS projects in the area. Adding another project is an insult to the local population.

CWO REZist Inc. objects to the Beryl BESS. Please see attached submission.

Beryl BESS will not provide any reliable, affordable power at all. It is incapable storage, relying on the vagaries of the weather.

When the powers that be realise that we are living in the Nuclear age & wish to remain an advanced country, much of what is planned for the Central West & other districts will become obsolete.
The district will be stuck with the environmental vandalism caused by Government (taxpayer’s) heavily subsidised ‘renewable’ energy installations.

Ratch’s Incapable Beryl Battery Energy Storage System is an extremely destructive, disingenuous plan with a contaminating lifecycle that is not one bit clean, green or sustainable.
Being weather dependent is useless, only ensuring it will never provide reliable, cheap power on demand.
Australians need far superior 24/7 Australian power with a minimal environmental footprint.

The renewable energy push on rural Australia needs to stop now before it is too late. I object to this project. BESS brings with it too many fire risks.

I object to the proposed electricity-generating works as it poses a serious risk to Wangaratta’s special water catchment. The increased exposure to toxic contamination from industrial activities will jeopardize the water quality, essential for both agriculture and human consumption.

Beryl BESS is part of the most obscene, non-sensical, ruinable plans for Australia, destroying our precious biodiversity & ecology, contaminating our essential Agricultural land & water supplies & seriously harming Australian people & our children’s future forever with toxic junk & energy deprivation.

This BESS is a fire risk. There are 16 residences within 1 km of the BESS and 28 within 2 km and it is less than 6 km from Gulgong township. Water won't extinguish a fire in this BESS.

Beryl Solar already has a track record of fire, Beryl solar already has a track record of not adhering to consent conditions. Why will Beryl BESS be any different?

Nothing in this BESS is recyclable and likely much of the components are produced from slave labour.

This project is not in the public interest, the only beneficiary is the developer.

I object to yet another foreign owned and controlled, government funded addition to our increasingly unreliable energy network.

This BESS will contribute to our economic poverty as already our energy bills are unaffordable and our industries are moving offshore.

What guarantee do we have that none of the components of this BESS are mined/manufactured using slave labour?

What guarantee do we have that the NSW Government is willing or able to ensure that any consent conditions are adhered to?

What guarantee do we have that in a fire situation toxic smoke does not belch over the neighbours and township of Gulgong?

What country in the world runs on wind/solar/batteries?

We object to Beryl BESS based on the fact that this is a toxic waste disaster.

The fire risk to the neighbours and residents of Gulgong is unacceptable.

How much slave labour has been utilised in the mining and manufacture of the BESS components?

Exactly how does the developer plan to extinguish a fire in this BESS and who will be charged with this responsibility? Do all the neighbours know the risks of this development given the proximity to their homes?

Where will the spent batteries be disposed?

Are all the neighbours aware of the noise that this project will generate? Given that the cooling system has to run 24/7 in order to prevent thermal runaway.

Are all the neighbours aware that this project will be lit 24/7?

What is powering the cooling system? Diesel generators? It will be catastrophic if the cooling system stops working due to lack of power which is what we all expect from a system reliant on wind, solar and batteries.

Objection to Beryl Battery

I OBJECT to Ratch’s horrible plan for a very contaminating & destructive Beryl BESS at Gulgong that will only work part-time & will create a massive pile of toxic waste that is ruining Australia.