Mayfair Solar Farm

The fact is that so called ‘renewables’ like Elgin’s disingenuous, damaging plan, will not bring enough energy to supply ordinary Australians. They have not been proven to deliver continuous supply.

I am very unhappy that there is no opportunity for open debate on this destructive energy depriving venture that will change the life of all Australians.

The fact is energy costs will rise for ordinary, already struggling householders.

I am extremely concerned for the great loss of productive RU1 farming land - risking our food security, and sustainable land for animal life!
When we lose our limited arable land & our precious endangered species’ habitat - they are gone!

Far superior Australian power sources are urgently needed to enable Electricity Consumers to be provided with reliable, secure, affordable power.

Fire Hazardous Mayfair Solar + explosive BESS would introduce highly combustible materials into the landscape, creating a fire risk that is completely unacceptable.
Our communities are already vulnerable to bushfires, and these dangerous plans will substantially, unjustly increase the threat to lives, homes, and the environment.

Submission to Object to Mayfield Solar Project
The Planning Commission must look at this project in conjunction with the other Renewable Energy Projects in this small area of Birriwa, Gulgong, Stubbo, Dunedoo - These projects all have an accumulative impact on the area. You cannot look at each individual project without taking in the whole CWREZ.
• Removing more agricultural land which will impact the ability to supply Australia and other countries with food.
• The proposal will greatly impact the environment, flora & fauna.
• A huge visual impact on the landholders surrounding the Solar Project.
• More information needed as to who is responsible to decommission the project when it reaches it life span. The EIS states there are no facilities in Australia that can recycle solar panels, so where will all the solar panels, stands, underground materials, batteries, wire cabling end up?
• The goal posts are moving - Energy Co and now ACEREZ. When this Solar Project and the Central West Orana renewable energy zone was initially proposed it was much smaller. Now the area of the solar farm has increased as well as the high voltage Power Lines – now saying there will be both 300kV and 500kV lines side by side.
• Too many construction workers - our small communities cannot handle this huge number of employees during construction and ongoing running of the Mayfield Solar Project. There are significant other renewable energy projects within a small area from Birriwa to Gulgong, there are work camps being proposed everywhere.
• There will be an enormous social impact on our community. Traffic will increase which will have an impact on native flora, fauna and livestock.
• I am very concerned about the employee work health and safety practices undertaken by these construction workforce companies.

Solar so called ‘farms’ & incapable BESS do not provide a reliable energy source.
They destroy the natural environment & in the nuclear age in the near future they will become detritus & will have to be removed at great expense to the Local Community, with the toxic panels & Lithium BESS not being able to be recycled.

Hosting Industrialised Solar & BESS may initially appear to be of financial benefit to those gullible enough to accommodate them but they will end up held responsible for their extremely costly removal.
Hundreds of others will be negatively affected with unnecessary pylons & cables criss-crossing adjacent lands.
The destruction of the environment will be significant & our iconic landscapes will be destroyed.

If we are to do away with Australian Coal & Gas, the only reliable energy source is Australian Nuclear Power.
When the powers that be realise that we are living in the Nuclear age & wish to remain an advanced country, much of what is being recklessly forced on Gulgong, CW REZ & throughout NSW will soon become obsolete.
The district will be stuck with the environmental vandalism caused by parasitic Government (taxpayer’s) heavily subsidised ‘renewable’ energy installations.

Hideous, Fake Green Solar Electricity Generating Works & FIRE🔥BOMB-like BESS are not just environmentally disastrous—they are economically devastating. The long-term costs will be astronomical, and the communities that rely on farming, tourism, and local industries will be decimated.
Elgin’s unreliable, weather dependent, rip-off will only deepen the hardship many of us are already facing.

**https://youtu.be/-ehDI0Zj8IU?si=L8u-IqRzBzzGn-ep

Elgin’s hazardous Mayfair Solar Electricity Generating Works & BESS has catastrophic impacts for our irreplaceable, healthy water sources, which have nourished our crops and families for years, putting them at extreme risk of irreversible contamination.
This isn’t just a local issue—it’s a national one.
Clean water is a basic human right, and yet it’s being jeopardized for the sake of corporate greed.

The last thing healthy rural communities want is
Toxic Waste and Long-Term PFAS Hazards from Industrialised Solar/Wind Electricity Generating Works & filthy Fire hazardous BESS that are a Public Health & Safety disaster!
There is no guarantee that the toxic materials or fire-hazardous components used in these projects will ever be removed or cleaned up. These toxins will pollute our soil and water sources forever, putting our health and safety at risk for generations.

Elgin’s vandalising Mayfair Solar/BESS monstrosity has NO SOCIAL LICENCE.
Locals & the people of NSW have not been genuinely consulted about this energy depriving, eye-wateringly costly, hazardous, environmental nightmare - with our concerns being completely ignored.
The people who will be most affected have no say in this, and are being steamrolled by deceitful policies, greedy, intimidating bully TransGrid & other predatory, vested interests who have no connection to this land or our way of life.

The Loss of Soil/Water Integrity that Elgin’s destructive plan will cause - destroying our uncontaminated Soil/Water heritage - would be irreversible.
The toxic components from these projects will forever contaminate the earth beneath our feet & our essential water supplies - making it impossible to continue farming or restoring the land in the future & will put our very lives at serious risk.

Elgin’s Mayfair Solar/BESS plan is irreversibly damaging to Agriculture.
We are being forced to watch as prime agricultural land—RU1 food-growing land—is being destroyed. This land is our lifeblood, and once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.
There’s no cleaning up of Toxic Solar/BESS contamination or putting back the nutrients and natural balance that have sustained our communities for generations.
Reliable, affordable, Australian power with minimal environmental impact must be immediately prioritised instead.

The Environmental Destruction caused by Elgin’s disastrous Mayfair Solar/BESS plan will wreak havoc on our public health & safety, our environment, our ecology, precious wildlife habitats soil & water systems.
It’s clear that no regard has been given to preserving the very ecosystems that sustain us. This is nothing short of environmental vandalism!

While there are a number of areas that should be addressed, I am confining my response to the following issues: Contamination, Pollution, Decommissioning and Remediation. Please see atatchments.

I object to the project as it:

- uses agricultural land
- is too close to neighbours

I object to the Mayfair Solar Farm for the following reasons.

It will add to the cumulative visual and environmental impact of the multitude of existing and proposed renewable energy projects in the region; an impact that the guidelines for renewable energy state should be avoided.

Renewable energy projects and associated power lines will add to the already high bushfire risk of this reigion. The AEMO has given a bushfire rating of E, the highest available on a scale of A to E for the CWO-REZ. The magnitude of this risk is evident in the Victorian Black Saturday Bushfires in 2009. On that day 11 major bushfires started. A coronial inquiry found that 6 of these fires were started by power lines. Of the 173 deaths recorded, 159 of those deaths were attributed to the 6 power line fires.

If the predictions on climate change are correct then the extreme weather events that precipitated the Victorian fires will become much more common and so the already high fire risk of the CWO-REZ will be exacerbated. In addition renewable energy projects hinder the ability of the RFS to control these fires. Water cannot be used on lithium battery (BESS) fires. It is too dangerous for RFS volunteers to access fires in solar farms. And finally power lines and wind turbines create hazardous conditions for the aerial water bombing of these fires.

There has already been a major fire in the nearby Beryl Solar Farm (April 2023). The Mayfair Solar Farm is only 6km NW of Gulgong township. Given that the worst fires are driven by hot NW winds this solar farm presents an unacceptable fire risk for the residents of Gulgong and the surrounding district.

The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) presented for the project fails to adequately address the extensive risks associated with habitat destruction, cumulative environmental impacts, and the socio-economic disruption to the local community. Additionally, the long-term consequences of large-scale renewable energy projects, such as heat islands, thermal belts, and potential chemical contamination, remain under-researched and unmitigated. This submission emphasizes these risks and calls for a reassessment of the project's feasibility and location.

The solar project (it is not a farm producing food or fibre) does not require good agricultural soil to produce the solar energy. Please leave alone the viable agricultural land for the production of food and fibre for our country's needs and for the export market. The runoff from the solar panels as they deteriorate will pollute the soils and our waterways.
It is not 'green and renewable' when so much native flora and fauna will be impacted.
Is it Australian owned? and are the solar panels made in Australia?

i object to this project. solar power is unreliable and not a suitable source of energy to power NSW. why are rural communities being destroyed in order to power NSW? rural communities did not ask for this, so we should not have to accommodate such projects. this will also have ugly consequences on the landscape. We need food security for Australia and destroying agricultural land is opening our nation up for trouble.

Stop destroying rural landscapes and our environment with this dangerous infrastructure.
This project will destroy a small and beautiful rural community. given this, i do not believe that the project should go ahead. Small communities need to be supported, not divided by projects like this. These solar and renewable energy projects carry significant fire risk.

Keep this out of rural NSW. We don't want them. Solar and other renewable energy infrastructure will destroy our small communities, businesses, homes and ways of life. They are an absolute monstrosity on the landscapes and a major concern when they catch fire. They are intermittent, unreliable and totally useless. What happens on overcast days and at night time?