Tilbuster 2 Solar Farm

Put this toxic junk in the city electorates that want it.
The environment is already destroyed in the city...STOP destroying our environment.
This will be the asbestos of the future and no one will ever be held to account.
STOP STOP STOP wrecking our environment.

Stop destroying rural Australia. Stop clearing land and knocking down trees to cover the land with solar panels, batteries and transmission. This junk all needs to be replaced in 10 years time and the subsidies will never stop. We don't want our land destroyed for the benefit of the profit driven proponent.

Yet another subsidy seeker wanting to wreck the environment! We already produce enough solar energy from roof top solar, stop spending taxpayers money on this toxic junk. Likely the neighbours don't even know about this project, and when it is built all the surrounding land will be devalued. For what??? So some subsidy seeker can make a profit. NSW electricity consumers will suffer.

I strongly object to the Tilbuster 2 Solar Farm and any other energy projects like it for the following reasons:

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

"A Whole-of-System Power Budget Shows Failure of Reliable Power at Night

A whole-of-system power budget is fundamental to understanding the viability of the AEMO ISP and
making a counterpoint to the CSIRO GenCost report, however, the ISP provides no system level power
budget. In fact, the ISP does not contain any data on maximum demand. Instead, it forecasts average
annual energy production figures. This is no way to design a high reliability system.
Proper high reliability engineering design requires use of real worst-case conditions plus a margin for
facility outages for maintenance and repairs. A whole-of-system power budget (table on the next page)
is based entirely on AEMO’s ISP data.

The power budget is updated with August 2024 ESOO maximum grid demand data (v3).
We show that by 2030, the dispatchable reserve margin falls to minus 15.9% on a single 16-hour
overnight period when solar and wind fall to zero and baseload sources are run at full capacity. Any
facility outages for maintenance or repairs will make this figure worse. There is simply not enough
baseload power nor energy storage capacity.

To restore the dispatchable reserve margin to at least plus 20% would require an additional 15.3 GW
of baseload or equivalent stored energy outputs in 2030, rising to 19.5 GW in 2040.
In the event of multiple day wind and solar drought conditions, there is not sufficient surplus power
during daytime to completely recharge expanded energy storages sufficient to handle another
overnight period under worst case conditions. This was evident in the ISP’s 8 day simulation of non
worst case conditions (see below). "

Solar Farms are also land intensive projects that can easily result in greatly reduced food production on prime and pristine agriculture land, immense harm to wildlife, biodiversity and ecosystems.

Solar Farms are also a tremendous potential fire hazard, particularly because solar farms are attached to dangerous and potentially highly flammable high voltage transmission lines, even though in 2009, 6 out of 11 of the Black Saturday fires that killed 173 people, injured 414 people and did untold damage throughout Victoria, with 2 of those fires exploding like Hiroshima bombs, making solar farms particularly dangerous to wildlife and human life.

Therefore, for the above reasons and evidence attached, this and other energy projects like it should NOT be allowed to go ahead for any reason, under any circumstances. I feel that by ignoring the extreme fire hazard risk of this project, NSW Major Projects, the government, the planners, the REZ would all be putting themselves at a very high risk of being deemed culpable at a coronial inquest, should bushfires (which would be electric bushfires that CANNOT be put out with water) break out from this solar farm and claim lives as the 2009 Black Saturday fires did.

I object as there is no social licence, it’s depriving us of clean, healthy food growing land & essential food security & reliable, affordable, Australian energy security as well as our national security.

As an academic and professional I am actively involved in Climate Change. My focus is on food security and maintaining biodiverse landscapes supporting adaptation and mitigative strategies to address the challenges of extreme weather events of climate change.

My technology company is also developing novel technologies in the clean tech sectors - focusing on energy and mobility in both terrestrial and marine operations (agriculture, mining, marine, defence and commercial). My products target a global market.

I therefore understand the need to urgently develop energy generation capacity that provides a transition pathway away from fossil fuels.

I am also an impacted neighbour to the Tilbuster Solar Farm development.

At the earliest notification of the project I developed a communication relationship with representatives of the proponents and advised them that they would need to maintain a high level of communication with the community in the Tilbuster Valley. Historically, this community has rallied when a project threatens the visual amenity of the Valley.

My objections to this project are twofold.

Firstly, the requirement for Stage 2 which has upset many residents of the valley. This requirement has been communicated as a deficiency in the original EIS, which suggests a lack of professionalism by the proponent.

Secondly, in my communications with representatives of the proponent, and their information evenings, I have been surprised at their complete absence of consultation at any point in this project. The individuals responsible for communications have provided untruths, revealing a lack of integrity, which has pitted residents aggressively against the project.

Any discussions regarding the recompense to affected residents for loss of visual amenity have been immature and poorly thought through, which again reveals a lack of professionalism and integrity.

As an affected neighbour I have not yet had the opportunity to discuss the project, except by y direct emails with representatives of the proponent.

By way of an examples that reinforces my complaints about the lack of professionalism of the proponents;
- the individuals contracted to take photographs to reveal the degree of my visual impact by the solar farm, took their photos from the lowest point in our yard at the lowest house on our farm - which is alongside a creek.

- yet another example relates to a conversation in which the representatives of the proponent offered a one time recompense to affected landholders that contributed towards the installation of a solar array on their dwelling. An absurd offer like this does not reflect the value of the surrounding landholdings that typically worth $M's in this valley and most dwellings already have solar installed.

It is this immature approach to landholders that are affected by this project that I raise my objections, which include the complete lack of consultation.

This clearly suggests that the project processes have not been sufficiently supervised by governing entities.

Thanks

Dr Phil Coop
Ravensworth

Note that I also support the project.
Please see the attached PDF for the submission for the project prepared by Greg Steenbeeke on behalf of Thesium Pty Ltd.

19th June 2025
As a resident severely impacted by the proposed Tilbuster 2 Solar Farm I would like to lodge an objection for the following reasons;

Lack of transparent, constructive and meaningful community engagement and information sharing

In July 2024, I and some of the residents in this valley were sent a project update by the proponent of the solar farm, Enerparc. In this communication we discovered that there were plans for a much larger and significantly more intrusive Stage 2 adjacent to the already approved Stage 1. It was noted that the developer was already well underway with studies and preparation for Stage 2 and that as a resident I was being notified as their Visual Impact Study company would require access to my property as part of their specialist studies. This was the first time I and the other residents of the valley found out about the proposed Stage 2 as there had been no indication whatsoever from the developer during the consultation process for Stage 1 that there was likely to be a Stage 2.

I received a generic general email from Emerparc on 14th October 2024 with an invitation to attend a Community Information Session to be held on 17th October 2024 (3 days later). The email stated that the information had been mailed to ‘nearby’ residents. I received a flyer in my mailbox that same day (14th October 2024). I contacted the residents of Tilbuster Valley to discover that most of them had not received any communication via email or mail regarding the session. Unfortunately, I left for overseas on 16th October so was unable to attend the session however, residents in the valley who were able to attend which was difficult given the short notice, told me that it was poorly handled by Enerparc who did not have adequate information and were very arrogant in their attitude to people’s questions and concerns.

Enerparc have not proactively communicated with the residents since then (except if we as individuals request information from them directly). I arrived home on Sunday 15th June 2025 having been away for 6 weeks to your letter advising that a submission complete with EIS had been made and that we had a month to respond. I doubt many of the residents, even those with concerns, have received notification from your offices about this next stage of the process.

Visual impairment

There will be significant visual impairment for all residents and motorists using the Highway in the valley which is well known in the region for its scenic beauty. Homes, structures and key sites have often been built in the valley to capitalize on the views and the increased property sale prices over the years have reflected the value of these views. Residents with elevation will be more affected and have not been considered in the Stage 2 planning footprint.

Only upon pressure from residents concerned about the traffic safety risk have Enerparc agreed to increase the vegetation corridor planting to 60 metres. The proposed project is planned to be sited at the low point of the valley so any plantings are helpful for traffic and people on the highway but do not help with the visual intrusion for the properties close to the site on the opposite sloping ground. Trees take a long time to grow and this is dependent on weather conditions and the care taken of the growing trees. We are looking at a minimum 20 year timeframe for any tangible results from the planting. And this does not take into account droughts and fires which would destroy the vegetation. There has been no information provided about how these plantings would be maintained. Landholders have offered minimal funds for ‘community planting’ with the assumption that we will be responsible for the planting and maintenance of this vegetation which is ludicrous that we will be financially burdened by this offer.

Taking the above into consideration I think the setback should be significantly increased to 500 metres from the Highway to ameliorate the impact of the panels on traffic on the highway and visual aesthetics for local residents and tourists using the road as well as reduce some of the impact for local property owners. The vegetation planting should be increased to at least 100 metres.

Visual Impact Statement results and photos for my property and others, particularly those whose views will be severely impacted are skewed and engineered to not accurately reflect the visual impact from my residence and garden let alone the rest of the property.

Traffic impact

Distractions and traffic congestion from the site will cause accidents on one of the popular overtaking locations in this area of the Highway. This National Highway caters for an extremely high proportion of large trucking and freight transports from Brisbane to Sydney as well as large coaches. There will also be increased traffic moving on and off the solar farm during construction and operation creating delays, noise and dust. This section of the Highway will not cope with the increased traffic. Recent (May 2025) flooding on the coast caused the diversion of freight trucks onto the highway for 3 days. This additional heavy vehicle traffic has caused severe damage to the road with dangerous potholes and deterioration of pavement as a result. The damage from the increase in traffic during the construction, and ongoing maintenance, of the Solar Farm will make the road dangerous for motorists. There will also be distraction from the glint, glare and visual sight of the panels for motorists with the potential to cause accidents.

I, like most residents of the Tilbuster Valley, accept that NSW has a critical need for alternative energy sources to fossil fuel however we don’t believe that should come at the price of environment destruction, financial hardship, loss of quality of life and mental well being and social cohesion for people like the residents of this valley.

Several properties in the Tilbuster Valley are owned by one family who have signed up to have Stage 1 on their land and are being significantly compensated for it. This biased support for the Solar Farm resulted in a reduction in objections from valley residents to Stage 1 and now also the proposed Stage 2. We are concerned that this stage 2 development has been incredibly poorly managed by Enerparc and rushed through in the false belief that as planning permission had already been granted for Stage 1, there was no point in involving the local community.

Enerparc’s actions and total lack of consideration for impacted residents have caused much resentment and threaten to destabilise a tight knit community who live in this valley, many of whom have been living here for generations.

Yours faithfully

Deborah McLean
Hillwood,
RMB11924 New England Highway
Armidale NSW 2350
Tel: 0421 872 826
 
Attachments:
• Petition from valley residents objecting to the proposed development
• View from lookout’ (taken from the lookout showing the view directly across to Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the solar farm
• ‘View from paddock’ (taken from one of the paddocks looking west)
• ‘View from house’
• ‘View of site from Hillwood front entrance

The long-term problem of toxic contamination finding its way into soil profiles and waterways including rivers, creeks, ephemeral streams, farm dams, town water storage systems, city water storage, Oceans and The Great Barrier Reef; and the waste management arising from solar components is acknowledged worldwide as a ‘ticking time-bomb’. Please refer to attached for details.

Save Our Surroundings (SOS) objects to this project.

There are so many issues with the term Renewables because it is predominately the industrial wind and solar works, BESS, pumped hydro and associated new transmission infrastructure elements that create complexity in presenting the problems with these to people with little understanding of Australia's transition to a new but not better electricity network.

For instance, industrial wind and solar works, BESS, pumped hydro and new transmission infrastructure (Ruinables) ruin many dozens things from national security to ever higher electricity prices to consumers (refer to the Attachment for 33 examples). This proposed Ruinables project will only add to these examples, unless the Proponent can provide factual evidence to the contrary.

It appears that South Australia is the "canary in the mine" and the examples 1 and 2 in Appendix B clearly demonstrate that, as many engineers, economists, consultants, analysts, commentators and others have stated, an electricity system dominated by wind and solar electricity generation, even with storage, cannot even meet SA's demand let alone the whole of Australia.

Sun and wind droughts are natural occurrences which can last for short or very long periods and occur simultaneously across the entire NEM grid, as occurred on 4/6/2024 and other occasions.

The inevitable consequence of a transition to a Ruinables-based energy system, which Australia is already experiencing, is an expensive, unreliable, unstable, high security risk energy system that is destroying environments and the economy for no measurable benefit.

This project will help bring jobs and cashflow to the community. As solar is the cheapest energy generation source in Australia I wish to see it built ASAP.