Steel River East Battery Energy Storage System

The NSW Government has a Duty NOT to Host, Procure or have a PPA with Modern Slavery based BESS like Steel River East.
Under evolving procurement laws, electricity tainted by unethical supply chains will not be saleable in Australia’s future energy markets.

This project reflects a piecemeal, opportunistic, anti-Australian approach rather than a reliable, affordable, secure, rational & beneficial energy strategy.
This plan is sacrificing our country — selling us out to Beijing.

Steel River River is typical short term, astronomically costly & extremely dangerous Greenwashing.
BESS is being used to meet arbitrary emissions targets without building any real energy capacity or resilience.

This plan has a multitude of strategic & long-term failings.
Instead of building secure, sovereign capacity, Australia is importing a disaster that is insecure & vulnerable to foreign energy manipulation.

There is NO Transparent Risk Modelling!
There is a lack of publicly available hazard, failure, and environmental risk assessments — unacceptable for a project of this scale.

STEEL RIVER EAST BESS IS AN UNETHICAL STORM OF NEGLECT AND ABUSE OF NATURE ….
IT’S ALL PAIN & NO GAIN FOR AUSTRALIA AS ENERGY POVERTY RENEWABULLS ARE THE ASBESTOS OF THE FUTURE!

This plan shows “a lack of care that demonstrates reckless disregard for the safety or lives of others, which is so great it appears to be a conscious violation of other people's rights to safety.”

Three things are clear about the diabolical NSW renewable infrastructure roadmap & Federal Directives:
👉🏻Many landscapes will never be the same;
👉🏻Our essential, life-sustaining soil & water will be contaminated
👉🏻Electricity will become more expensive and less reliable;
👉🏻None of this will alter the climate and
👉🏻Australia will soon be under the Control of our most Hostile Enemy - the Chinese Communist Party

As Patricia Adams so aptly states in China's Energy Dream -
“Carbon dioxide reduction only makes sense for those China wishes to harm & supplant." 
https://www.thegwpf.org/content/uploads/2021/12/Adams-Chinas-Energy-Dream.pdf

It’s glaringly obvious that:
👉🏻’Renewables’ are a Trojan Horse for Socialism masquerading as Environmentalism”

👉🏻Weather dependent stuff – CANNOT deliver power on demand – but guarantees Economic Misery, Environmental Destruction and Community Disruption.

According to the most credible Electrical Engineering Experts this incapable, Toxic BESS plan & NSW RenewaBull Infrastructure Roadmap - orchestrated by the Climate Change Authority Chair - who was previously the Coalition’s NSW Energy Minister & Treasurer - can only be described as SHAMBOLIC POLICY MAKING, DANGEROUS TO GRID OPERATION & TOTALLY MAD!

The heart of this NSW disaster emanates from the INSIDIOUS DINAWAN SUBSTATION …. with ex Cheung Kong Infrastructure’s Spark Infrastructure & TransGrid Running dodgy ENERGYCO & the CLIMATE CHANGE AUTHORITY CHAIR’s previous right hand Energy Policy Director somehow snagging a spot on the NEM EXPERT PANEL & his Delusional Executive Director Energy at NSW Treasury in 2023 is now acting CEO of the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC)- SETTING AUSTRALIA’S ELECTRICITY RULES!!

THIS IS AN INCESTUOUS, FAKE GREEN SWAMP AGAINST AUSRALIALIA’s BEST INTERESTS - WITH VESTED INTEREST TENTACLES ALL BENEFITING THE GREEDY FAKE GREEN GRAVY TRAIN, GLOBAL ELITE & CHINA.

This plan DEFIES:-
*Every aspect of the NATIONAL ELECTRICITY LAW OBJECTIVE.
‘The objective of the National Electricity Law is to promote efficient investment in, & efficient operation and use of, electricity services for the long term interests of consumers with respect to:-
(a) price, quality, safety, reliability and security of supply of electricity; 
and
(b) the reliability, safety and security of the national electricity system; 
and 
(c) the achievement of targets set by a participating jurisdiction 
(i) for reducing Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions; or 
(ii)that are likely to contribute to reducing Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions.’
 
‘AEMO, AER, AEMC, Energy Ministers, Networks, Generators & everyone in 'authority', place primacy on emissions target rather than the other requirements of the NEL. 
The emissions requirement was only added to the NEL in Sep 2023, and the NSW Emissions Reduction Act 2023 was only passed in Nov 23 (other states were similarly tardy to legislate any targets),  - so on what basis did any Gov act prior to that to impose all this on us?   Yet they all did, and still emphasise emissions over other objectives.   
NEL is made in the SA Parliament, and in the 2nd reading, the Minister there also reiterated that ALL OBJECTIVES ARE EQUAL.’

*Australian Drinking Water Guidelines | NHMRC - Update 25 June 2025
Publication of updated guidance in the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (the Guidelines), including:
Review and update of 4 chemical fact sheets: per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), selenium, lead and manganese.
New guidance on metals and metalloids leaching from plumbing products.
Two new chemical fact sheets: bismuth, silicon and silica.
Consequential edits to the Guidelines to align advice and ensure consistency.
https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/about-us/publications/australian-drinking-water-guidelines

An IMMEDIATE MORATORIUM ON THE WHOLE RENEWABLE/INTERCONNECTOR NIGHTMARE IS ESSENTIAL.
A COMPREHENSIVE INDEPENDENT AUDIT into all supply chains, personnel, and third-party advisors involved—with a specific focus on identifying anyone subject to the CCP’s National Intelligence Law;

A ROYAL COMMISSION into the ideological capture, governance failures, and systemic conflicts of interest across AEMO, AER, AEMC, and other so-called independent energy bodies is essential.

A RETURN TO AN ENERGY POLICY BASED ON NATIONAL INTERESTS—affordable, safe, secure, sovereign energy rooted in our existing coal-based assets, not the fantasy of renewables.
Australia cannot afford another day of sabotage disguised as ‘Net Zero,’ ‘sustainability,’ ‘emissions reduction,’ ESG Agenda!

**World Health Organization now lists two PFAS as carcinogens or possible carcinogens: perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) as a Group 1 carcinogen and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) as a Group 2B carcinogen.

**A range of PFAS is also subject to the Stockholm Convention for the protection of human health and the environment from persistent organic pollutants (POPs) (ie, PFOS, PFHxS, PFOA and potentially all long chain perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids). 

**COMMONWEALTH PFAS BAN
Some types have been found to be toxic to human health and the environment. In its most definitive regulatory action taken to date, the Commonwealth has effectively banned the import, use and manufacture of some of the more prominent types of PFAS (PFOS, PFOA and PFHxS) 
from 1 July 2025.
(21 Feb 2024)

**’Forever chemicals’ used in Lithium Ion Batteries Threaten Environment, Research Finds | Lithium-ion batteries | The Guardian 14/7/24
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/jul/14/forever-chemicals-lithium-ion-batteries-environment

**Safety of Grid Scale Lithium-ion Battery Energy Storage Systems
“The scale of Li-ion BESS energy storage envisioned at “mega scale” energy farms is unprecedented and requires urgent review. The explosion potential and the lack of engineering standards to prevent thermal runaway may put control of “battery fires” beyond the knowledge, experience and capabilities of local Fire and Rescue Services. 
BESS present special hazards to fire-fighters….”
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352158070_Safety_of_Grid_Scale_Lithium-ion_Battery_Energy_Storage_Systems

**Grid Scale Batteries & Fire Risk
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/656f411497ae14084ad8d03a/t/66fd2383b56dbc6906390297/1727865736681/Fannon-Batteries.pdf

**Disaster at Moss Landing: The Risk of Battery Storage - YouTube - 16/1/25
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuTaZFQA18E

**https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/02/20/massive-green-battery-plant-catches-on-fire-again-weeks-after-major-toxic-blaze/

**https://localnewsmatters.org/2025/02/13/environmental-tests-reveal-elevated-levels-of-toxic-metals-since-moss-landing-battery-fire/

**https://www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea/article/environmental-tests-reveal-battery-metals-around-20163514.php

**https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/elevated-levels-heavy-metals-elkhorn-slough-lithium-battery-facility-fire/

**Battery recycling plant explodes - twice. (What it means for you.) | Auto Expert John Cadogan - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-nzOJ01Fkc

**https://www.fire.nsw.gov.au/page.php?id=9402
“There is a general lack of guidance and provisions in building codes, standards, and legislation in relation to safety to address the potential risks from these emerging technologies. Part of the problem is that we do not yet know enough about their probability of failure, their mechanisms of failure and potential consequences of failure.”

**”PFOS and PFOS-related chemicals are still being produced for regulated uses (primarily in China)”
https://greensciencepolicy.org/our-work/building-materials/pfas-in-building-materials/

** “PFOS Chemicals are just as bad for wildlife as they are for humans. 
Tests have found that even small levels of contamination can lead to compromised immune systems and brain asymmetry.”
https://www.completehomefiltration.com.au/difference-between-pfas-and-pfos/)

BESS are incapable and dangerous.
Far from stabilising the grid, sudden BESS drawdowns or injections cause frequency and voltage fluctuations, making the grid more fragile.

There are extremely risky operational & technical problems that remain unaddressed with this hazardous experiment.
Tesla's Moss Landing fire in California shows how quickly things can go wrong!

Steel River East BESS is Environmental Carnage and an Unethical Social Disaster.
Toxic Supply Chains - with the extraction of materials for BESS (especially lithium and cobalt) leaves a trail of environmental destruction and social exploitation.

This project should not go ahead on safety and environmental grounds. The pollution and detrimental effects on the environment will be enormous. Please say a resounding no to this mindless, unthought development.

Steel River East Toxic BESS BOMB is a dangerous Operational Hazard and Disposal Nightmare.
There are no adequate, affordable end-of-life disposal solutions for this ghastly lithium-ion battery plague.
The Fake Green ‘Circular Economy’ is false propaganda - resulting in toxic landfill leaching into the environment - poisoning our soil and water and destroying Intergenerational Equity.

I object to the Steel River East Battery Storage system for the following reasons:

According to Submission to CSIRO’s Draft 2024-25 GenCost Report
By Independent Engineers, Scientists and Professionals, 11 February 2025:

"Conclusions and Recommendations
Independent Engineers, Scientists and Professionals, 11 February 2025
1. GenCost fails to demonstrate that it is ‘Australia’s most comprehensive’ report on NEM costs. It
fails to include major cost elements funded by government and consumers. Its levelised cost of
electricity (LCOE) method is aimed at providing investors with theoretical marginal investment
indicators limited to investor costs, not national electricity costs, yet undisputedly this document
is misused by government to justify its energy policies. GenCost should be much more forthright
upfront in the disclaimer and executive summary regarding its true purpose.
2. GenCost’s claim that wind and solar are the cheapest form of electricity generation are completely
contradicted by whole-of-system ISP capital cost cash flow estimation – by a large margin as
indicated in Appendix 2 to this submission and other reports. CSIRO needs to explain the reasons
for this stark difference or clearly state that it is geared to investor interests and is not fit for
purpose to underpin national energy policy. The warning on page 57 states that cash flow cost
models are more realistic but is not sufficiently prominent.
3. GenCost employs highly contestable assumptions and data concerning capacity factors, capital
cost factors, facility lifetimes and spillage costs. CSIRO should rebalance the assumptions and data
for consistency to ensure it does not unduly favour renewables.
4. GenCost fails to account for Consumer Energy Resources (CER), low voltage distribution network
upgrades and disposal/remediation costs, which form a very large part of whole-of-system costs.
CER by itself is 60% of all solar and battery capacities in AEMO’s ISP. GenCost must include these
costs – they are not free. A purposeful report should include all costs to the national economy,
regardless of who pays.
5. GenCost’s assumption that investors will have free access to previously built network resources is
completely unrealistic in normal markets and particularly considering that grid design must be
based on worst-case conditions, when all resources are at maximum utilisation. CSIRO must
reconsider the whole GenCost approach to renewable integration costs.
6. GenCost’s use of an unspecified electricity system model running 9 years of historical weather
related data to determine maximum integration costs based on the simple assumption that the
grid will be reliable is a major mistake for many reasons.
a. The 2011-2019 AEMO data does not encompass all worst-case conditions, which recent
freely available data from both Australia and overseas indicate. Wind droughts and solar
outages are a common-mode failure affecting the entire NEM.
b. AEMO’s use of a simulation model in the Integrated System Plan (ISP) illustrates the pitfalls,
which are detailed in Appendix 1. CSIRO must provide details of the model used and how the
criteria for reliability must include maintaining a viable dispatchable reserve margin under
all conditions to protect against facility outages. The failure of the ISP to define worst-case
conditions inherent to proper high reliability system engineering casts serious doubt on the
integrity of its modelling and grid design with direct implications for GenCost.
7. Both GenCost and the ISP are important documents having major influence on energy policy with
impacts on the entire economy and the security of all Australians. The criticality of the NEM to
the well-being of the entire nation deserves rigorous and independent accountability by the same
type of certification authority used in other fields such as aviation, transportation,
telecommunications, civil works and the financial industry. CSIRO should support the
establishment of a proper independent regulatory body to review, hold accountable and certify
plans and implementation of the NEM. "

In addition. battery energy storage systems are highly potentially flammable and are attached to just as highly potentially flammable high voltage transmission lines, exactly like the 6 out of 11 high voltage transmission lines that caused the 2009 Black Saturday fires that killed 173 people, injured 414 more people and did untold damage throughout Victoria. That doesn't even include the fact that lithium-ion batteries used to create battery energy storage systems are considered to be a dangerous good for good reason. Why? Because they are just as highly potentially flammable as the high voltage transmission lines. So much so that I feel the local, state and federal government, planners and others who are involved in these sorts of dangerous and unnecessary massively expensive projects, funded by Australian taxpayers are willfully putting themselves in a very highly likely position of being deemed culpable before a coronial inquest, should electrical bushfires, which cannot be put out with water, break out from this and other battery energy storage systems. These reasons alone, along with the toxic fumes that would be harmful to nearby residents, should electrical bushfires break out from this project, is why this project and all other projects like it should be permanently scrapped.

BESS systems are prime targets for cyberattacks, and reliance on foreign-made components increases susceptibility to sabotage.

Steel River East BESS has ENORMOUS Security Concerns with Foreign Hardware Threats - as Reuters exposed recently - Chinese batteries and solar inverters in Australian infrastructure containing rogue communication devices — a critical national security concern.

There are rip-off Private Profits and Life Threatening Public Risks from this HORRIBLE plan.
Why should predatory stakeholders like IFM and APG benefit while our lives are threatened, our environment is trashed, and electricity grid is wrecked?!

There is a Conflicted Ownership Structure!
With 49.6% of this Unethical, Toxic Contaminating, National Security Disaster owned by the NSW Government and the rest by private investment groups, accountability is diffuse and ineffective.

As a majority government-owned entity, Ausgrid has a public duty to avoid ethically and politically risky ventures, yet this BESS undermines that mandate.

This is an unethical plan defying Governance & Procurement Ethics
This plan Violates Anti-Slavery Supply Chain Obligations: Under NSW Local Council Act 1993 Section 438ZE, the sourcing of batteries using cobalt from Congolese mines linked to child and forced labor breaches procurement ethics.

Steel River BESS is a dodgy Market Manipulation Tool!
Energy companies exploit BESS systems to buy low and sell high, inflating electricity prices rather than stabilising them, hurting consumers.

There is NO Power Generation from this or any
BESS.
It will NEVER generate power — it merely stores it — making claims of "green energy" misleading and financially unjustified.