Waratah Super Battery Energy Storage System

Please see attached letter

The Central Coast does not need or want this "Super Battery" in our area and it's associated infrastructure
We are aware that the Central Coast is a target to become a smart city but WE THE PEOPLE will not allow this to happen and do not want Communism in our country and constant tracking.
We will not live in a Digital prison you call a smart city and this battery is just the start.
This is a BIG NO from me and my family and community.
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO
WE DO NOT WANT THIS BATTEREY OR ANYTHING TO DO WITH BLACKROCK OR SMART CITIES.

I live 600metres from this super battery. It's to close to the community. It's noise transmission from the fans used to keep them cool . The toxic fumes an fire hazard. The wet lands nearby the sites and animal corridor between. The EIS was 212 pages that I could not make sense of.

As a local of the area who lives quite close to the site i have mixed opinions about it. My main 4 concerns are the EMF (electromagnetic fields), sound, the risk of fire to the area and the risk of affecting the environment if something went wrong.
I think more community engagement needs to take place as most people are just very unaware of this huge change that will surely effect them in some way. How will this affect our property valuation and more importantly our health.
In regards to EMFs, have the risks also been combined with future EMF infrastructure? More housing, 5g roll out, increasing population etc. There really is very little information on how this will effect the community. You really need to provide Information on this as the risk assessment is extremely vague. Will EMFs reach surrounding suburbs?
Will residents hear this site day to day and especially at night? This end of the coast is very quite especially at night, the last thing people want to hear is the humming of a battery system or any associated sound from the site that isn't even providing cheaper power for the surrounding community. How will local fauna be effected from this development? Will their breeding, foraging and nesting be affected. There really is no benefit for the community, all I see is the possibility of more risks. Will the community be supplied with cheaper energy? Or will the community be upgraded with something they can benefit from? We already wear the brunt of the horrific debt of Central Coast Council with increased water and rates with services we're entitled to as rate payers now harder to get from the council. Something of this scale makes the community deserving of some reimbursement. The area is very environmentally fragile and it concerns me that we'll be left with another catastrophe like the Mannering Park Ash dam that just gets swept under the rug. How will the already fragile environment be impacted if something was to go wrong like a chemical leak or if a fire became major and worse then what happened in the battery system in Victoria.
Please engage with the community more. The 1600 letters that I heard were sent out by Central Coast Council just isn't enough. I didn't receive one and I'm a home owner and rate payer close to the proposed site. I didn't even hear about this major development until I saw it on a community face book page where a member was voicing their same concerns and more and I am someone who really tries to keep up with what's happening in our community.

A great project. But only 160 solar panels? I assume they're on the support buildings. Someone has missed the fact that there are another 2600 structures which could have solar panels attached to their roofs - the 2600 battery modules. Perhaps two panels on each?

And why not align the battery boxes east/west, so that the incoming solar radiation (and power generation from solar panels) is maximised? They appear to be facing north-east - a least optimal direction, if someone was to imagine that some thought went into that orientation decision. The same number of battery boxes should fit in the area, regardless of orientation.

At least contemplating adding solar panels should be done now. The battery modules should be orientated east-west, so that solar panels on the roof of each module can face directly north - if the battery modules are made facing the wrong way, any solar generation in the future will be less than optimal. And if all the battery electrical connections are underground (as proposed), then to go back at some later date and make major changes in order to connect solar panels may be expensive. With some minor additional cost now to provide a connector for solar panels on each battery box, the addition of solar panels at some later date would be cheaper, if for some reason they are not considered necessary now *.

Perhaps the whole area could be covered with solar panels, as has been done over some car-parks. Substantially more solar panels could be fitted into the area - perhaps double the surface area of the battery boxes. The orientation of the battery boxes would be less important, but deciding where to put the foundations for the structures to support the solar panels (with the batteries running at a different direction to the solar panels and with underground cabling criss-crossing the whole area) would be problematic.

But why put those decisions off until later, inevitably involving higher cost, if they are added on to the current design in years to come. NOW is a better time to design for solar panels. And installing them either at the same time as construction of the battery or as stage two of the construction process would be ideal.

Thanks for asking for comments.

* Whether my proposed solar panels are each connected directly to the batteries or are run through a separate alternating current system, needs to be analysed by an engineer/economist.

I fully support the Waratah Super Battery Storage System. This project is critical to ensuring NSW continues to have a reliable energy supply.