Maison Dieu Solar Farm

Terrain Solar’s Maison Dieu Industrial Solar ‘Factory’ & BESS is a dreadful plan - designed to create toxic fires, deprive Australian people of power, cost us a motzer & never be cleaned up.

Maison Dieu Industrialised Solar Electricity Generating Works + BESS has no social licence as it is a horribly dangerous, extremely toxic & totally useless plan that is a complete waste of public money as it will never provide secure, reliable, affordable power.

Maison Dieu Solar & BESS is a despicable, diabolical plan designed to rip-off the Australian public with CONtrolling Energy Poverty & a massive Land Grab designed to reduce our limited, irreplaceable FOOD growing land - entombing it in Toxic PV forever - contaminating our healthy soil & water - wrecking our children’s future & making Australia weak - beholden to the CCP - our most hostile enemy!

Ugly Industrialised Solar Electricity Generating Works & Battery Energy Storage hazards will NEVER provide reliable, affordable Australian power which is an essential service for the people of NSW.
Depending on the weather means they are flaky, a very silly idea & DON’T WORK most of the time.
This toxic contaminating plan DOES NOT belong on essential, irreplaceable Food growing land at all as irreversible environmental harm will inevitably occur & our children’s Energy Security & Food Security future will be ruined forever.

Terrain Solar’s Maison Dieu Solar Electricity Generating Works + BESS is a totally objectional, Environmentally Destructive, life threatening Fire Risk that is useless, weather dependent & a toxic contamination disaster - against the best interests of Australia.

I object to this project ,I know we need to be producing more green energy but at what cost.
The new south Wales and federal government need to have legislation to protect near neighbours of these projects ,coal mines have a strict set of legislated guidelines that they have to follow.
This project is 10 metres from our property so all we are going to see is solar panels everytime we look out our back door/windows or while outside feeding animals ,washing or trying to enjoy our little bit of paradise.
The vegetation planting will not commence on the boundary between us and solar farm until completion of building ,that means it's at least 3 to 3.5 years after this that the vegetation will be bigger enough to make any sort of visual impact.If this project is approved we would like to be to have some input into what shrubs/trees are planted.
The value of properties in Maison Dieu will decrease and I don't think we will be able to sell our property in the future for its true value as nobody will want to buy a property along side a solar farm.
I don't think shade cloth will be suficient screening for our privacy during construction works.
If this project is approved would resisidents of Maison Dieu ,especially the near neighbours be able to have some input into where the community benefit sharing fund is utilised ,I feel it should be used for projects to benefit the residents impacted by this project .
How will the solar panels be kept clean and functioning properly ?,our solar panels are cleaned every 3 months as coal dust settles on them and if we get a shower of rain the dust sets like mud and then the panels do not function properly.
When the solar farm is going to be decommissioned where will all the solar panels,inverters ect be dumped as they are not recyclable, that's 8800 cubic metres of waste just from this farm alone .Hopefully our grandchildren and great grandchildren will be able to solve this problem , not just for this project but for all the other solar farms aswell.
If there is a bushfire or fire within this project what systems have been put into place to protect near neighbours and residents ,there is only one road out of maison dieu and if fire is in the best system residents maynot be able to leave safely.
How will hail or storm damage affect the panels
To sum up I still believe we need alternative energy sources but more planning needs to be done as to best locations/suitability .We should not be using farming land and be very mindful of near neighbours ,10 metres is to close .
Governments need to address this and legislate to protect farming land and neighbours .

My property will be horshoed by it.
The land here is zoned RU1 not industrial we are rural and residentual.
We were told and the scoping report that was produced stated it was a 30 year running life now the EIS states 30 years and on ongoing.
The EIS states this some of this land is subjected to flooding how do you build a solar power plant on a flood plan what contaminates would leech into the ground water and nearby Hunter River as all water running though this property ends up there see attached photo of water receeding in 2007 on the property that is proposed for this project.Taken from my back verandah.
As identified there is several coal mines in the Hunter which produce dust at this present time I need to have the solar on my house cleaned every three months to keep it funcioning correctly.
There no current neighberhood agreement to compensate neighbors for the lost of amenadites.
At this stage ther is no goverment legislation to protect near neighbors or guarantees of mitigation or land acquisition as there is in other industries eg Mining.
They state there will be no glare at all which I find hard to believe they also state that the visual imprint is low that is incorrect as the majoity of the view from my residence will be of solar panels they are planting shrubs that grow to 3 metres high around my boundry to make the impact less and to privide habitat for what animals andhow do they get there through an eight foot high security fence and these plantings will not take place till after construction which means for some period of time after constuction the only view will be solar panels or shade cloth for everyone at Masion Dieu that is not low visual impact.
There is 110,000 solar panel in this project which will create in excess of 8,000 cubic metres of waste at the de-commissiong stage where does that go or is going to just like plastic bags.
This area like others also gets extreme weather conditions eg, lighting and hail storms what is the contingency plan for these weather conditions?
Noise is a major concern and this company refuses to place a monitoring station near our residence so we can make sure that noise levels are below the allowed.
During construcion we could be forced to stay inside our house to avoid the noise and dust polution from this project.
I will not agree to any work been been done outside of the approved working hours condition during construction if approved we will feel like prisoners in our own home for seven and a half days a week.
Where is our water easement in this document they were told about this by the local council and my self and yet it is not shown section 1.8 Restrictions or Covenants (see attached document) why is this not shown makes the EIS not correct.
I believe that if this is approved my property will be devalued or not salable as no one wants a solar electricty plant in their backyard.
The land that is under consideration for this project was part of a very sucessful Holstein dairy if this project is approved this land could not be used for agricultral purposes for more than 30 years.This land is also subject to a mining lease and as such companies could not extract that comodity.
There is no mention of Bandicootes that live in this area.
There are Black swans that come here every year no mention as when they did the study it was outside of migatory times.
How do they protect neighbors privacy from all of this construction?
Who is going to fight fires on this site and where does the water come from?Electricity and water don't mix well.
The road to this site is a dead end road if there is a fire in there battery bank how do we escape the toxic fumes its ok to say the chance of this is minor but there is always a protential for this to happen.
Also what toxic fumes could be released if a fire was to happen within the solar panels and cabeling.
They talk about some traffic delays but what impact will this have on locals going about our daily buisness eg getting to town for appointments or emergencies.
The road is narrow and I don't believe a wide load and a normal truck could pass with saftey.
They state that the impact to traffic in peak times 4pm to 5pm entering New England Highway at Magpie Street is short I know though my experience that in those hours of the day the traffic is already banke up north of those lights and it can take to changes in the lights to enter the traffic flow than it take 10 mintues or longer just to get over the Hunter River brige if you add 84 more vechiles this time will increase a lot.
Then you add delays for road works for the Singleton by pass as well .
What about the glare to air traffic in the area some of these are helicopters used to examine hogh voltage transmission lines, crop duster emergency helicopters and all other air traffic.
This project has divided the comunity to those who benifit directly and the rest who get nothing.
These solar energy companies only see dollars to be made for their companies and the share holders and don't care about any body else.
Close beighbors should get a say as to what shrubs/trees and so forth are plated in the area also any plantins should be manged for the life of the whole project as trees/shubs will die and need ongoing plating not just two years.
If we keep allowing the loss of farm land to this type of project we will get the the stage that this country will be impoting most of our food and farming will be no more.

My parents own a property which will be surrounded by solar panels. They dont want to be surrounded by metal, they want and deserve the farm land, which is why they bought the property. My grandparents built the house that they reside in. My children want to visit ‘the Farm’ not a tin city.
My parents are retired now and want to enjoy that, not have people coming and going around their space, they don’t want mirror reflections hitting them in the face, every time they go out the door, or look out their windows.
What happens when it’s time to sell our ‘family’ home?? What is left for our children????

I am writing to object to the Terrain Solar and Ratch Australia Corporation large scale solar factory project at Maison Dieu, near Singleton NSW.

My objection to the project is based on key impacts to the local community, including the psychosocial damage and human environmental factors this project will have on the local residents and Singleton community.

The effects of psychosocial risk factors on population health and health inequalities have featured prominently in epidemiological research literature as well as public health policy strategies recently. Psychosocial well-being is a superordinate construct that includes emotional or psychological well-being, as well as social and collective well-being. The term “quality of life” is similar to psychosocial well-being in that it involves emotional, social and physical components.

Poor psychosocial environments may be health damaging and contribute to health inequalities. A considerable body of research evidence already suggests that the physical environment may influence mental health outcomes.

The neighbours of the proposed Maison Dieu Solar Factory will overlook 200 hectares of photovoltaic panels and substation everyday, particularly the three homes adjacent to the proposed industrial development. There has been no consideration of how this physical environment will impact the mental health of local residents.

The impact of reduction of green spaces must also be considered. These large-scale solar factories are expected to remain for 25-30 years. This is 25-30 years where 200 hectares of productive, green agricultural land is turned into black photovoltaic solar panels.
Research shows environmental factors may also help promote mental health (Palinkas et al. 2020), particularly exposure to green spaces (i.e., nature reserves, wilderness environments, and urban parks) (Barton and Rogerson 2017). There is a direct link between exposure to natural environments and a decrease in symptoms of mental illness (Bratman et al. 2019) while increasing happiness and subjective well-being (White et al. 2013).

Children (Carroquino et al. 2012; Mitro et al. 2015), the elderly, pregnant and postpartum women (Lowe et al. 2020), people with preexisting mental illness, people facing economic and social disadvantage, and first responders (Osofsky et al. 2011) are among the groups identified as being uniquely vulnerable to environmental exposures. Another vulnerability factor that has been largely overlooked by state policymakers is that environmental factors can worsen health outcomes for people with preexisting mental illness.

Current NSW government policies fail to adequately address the mental health impacts of the environment on individuals and communities. These signs of distress are either overlooked or viewed by regulators and policymakers as ancillary, or as a risk-communication challenge and it’s time for change.

The NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure must understand that how communities are organised, towns and cities are designed, and societies are supported all have ramifications for mental health. The population-level psychosocial factors have individual-level biological impacts especially for rural residents near large scale solar factories and the local community.

It is no longer acceptable to dismiss population-level and public mental health impacts as being unempirical or less scientific when deciding these large-scale renewable energy projects in rural residential areas.

Please consider the “quality of life” of the residents and local Singleton community and reject this proposal.

Yours sincerely

Cynthia Korff