On behalf of the Yass Landscape Guardians Inc. I wish to submit this submission opposing the Coppabella wind farm SSD6698 Modification 2 Decentralised BESS application by Goldwind.
Whilst Yass Landscape Guardians Inc. have opposed this project since its inception as part of the former Yass Valley Wind Farm in this instance we oppose the application for the addition of Coppabella wind farm Modification 2 Decentralised BESS application by Goldwind.
Whilst there are a multitude of reasons that Yass Landscape Guardians Inc. oppose this application by Goldwind for the addition of a decentralised BESS across 71% of the Coppabella wind farm, in this instance we will focus on just 1 aspect?
Grid Connection or at the very least the lack there of for the Coppabella wind farm at the latest Coppabella CCC 16th October 2025 where several members of the Yass Landscape Guardians Inc. are either members including myself or are alternate members of the Coppabella CCC, when Goldwind where queried on the night of the 16th October 2025 about connection of the Coppabella wind turbine project to the TransGrid transmission system it became obvious through landholders attending this meeting that also have the 99M 132KV transmission line passing through their property that TransGrid had notified them (the landholders) that they (TransGrid would not be moving forward with the duplication of the 99M 132KV transmission line until they came to a financial agreement with Goldwind for funding?
Goldwind further pressed on the subject of connection to the TransGrid transmissions system indicated that they where still waiting for TransGrid to formalise an offer to connect?
Therefore the Yass Landscape Guardians Inc. ask why would the NSW DPIE approve a significant modification to the Coppabella wind farm Mod 2 Decentralised BESS as applied for by Goldwind when the indications are that Goldwind are yet to be offered a final connection from TransGrid and that there are no immediate plans for the duplication of the 99M 132KV transmission line to include the 9R0 132KV transmission line from the proposed Coppabella 132KV substation to the Yass TransGrid 330/132KV substation, as per "Addendum Review of Environmental Factors" 2023?
A "cart before the horse" scenario?
Therefore in summing up Yass Landscape Guardians Inc. ask that Coppabella wind farm SSD6698 Modification 2 Decentralised BESS application by Goldwind, not be approved?

Batteries last on average 9 years only and therefore have to be replaced every 10 years. This will ensure the price of electricity to consumers will remain high to pay for the infrastructure.
Even decentralised BESS Lithium ion batteries have a propensity to catch fire and when fires happen they produce very toxic gases and dangerous chemicals that pollute the countryside and water.

This BESS plan is intrinsically Toxic, experimental and unsafe technology.

Lithium-ion batteries are chemically unstable, release poisonous gases and persistent pollutants, and create long-term contamination risks when they fail.

“Forever Chemicals’ used in Lithium-ion Batteries Threaten Environment”
The Guardian, 14 July 2024

This plan breaches the Government’s Primary Duty of failing to protect its citizens from the obvious National Security Risks of CCP produced/controlled BESS infrastructure and the highly toxic, Fire hazardous nature of this BESS.

Knowingly introducing such toxic fire risk, cyber vulnerability, and infrastructure fragility in pursuit of ideological energy targets is completely irresponsible and unacceptable.

For our comments, please read attached file

I strongly support all the comments lodged by the Binalong-Bowning Community Action Group on 11 December. In particular, I would emphasise, as an active member of the NSW RFS, the additional dangers, both known and unknown, to volunteer fire-fighters who are called upon to manage bushfires in this region. Fire-fighters are already under significant risk, beyond those which are considered traditional, from batteries and energy-generating equipment of all kinds, including EVs, charging devices and rooftop solar panels. As a member of the Executive of the Binalong brigade, I do not believe our volunteer members should be exposed to any increased level of risk which may arise from new battery devices of unknown fire potential sprinkled around the base of dozens or hundreds of wind towers, the benefits of which, if indeed there are any, accrue primarily to city folk many hundreds of kilometres away. We have already contributed more than our share in Yass Valley. Time for city folk to pull their weight.

RE: Coppabella Wind Farm Modification 2
There are a number of significant concerns with this proposal.
1. It is a complete distortion of the facts to pass this modification off as relatively insignificant and state, as the proponent has, that the project is substantially unchanged. The proposed modification represents a substantial change to the currently approved project and needs to be properly assessed as such.
2. The proposed inclusion of over 50 separate BESS, co-located on a high ridgeline with individual wind turbines, each containing 4 big lithium-ion battery packs in 6 x12m containers with a footprint of 500m2 (a total of over 300 containers to be sited along the ridgeline in 50 different locations) adds significantly to the visual impact of the project.
3. Most importantly, the proposed inclusion of over 50 separate BESS poses a serious and unacceptable fire risk to the surrounding Binalong and Bookham communities, and further afield to Yass and beyond as evidenced by the path of the Cobbler Rd fire in 2013. Lithium-ion battery storage catches fire – that is a well-documented fact. The site of this industrial wind facility is in a high-risk bushfire area, with the topography making it difficult to fight fires that start along the ridgeline even without the added risk from the turbines let alone 50 separate BESS, each of which is a potential point of ignition in its own right. Lives and property will be under threat with the local RFS ill-equipped and under resourced to respond to the thermal runaway fire that will inevitably start, and aerial firefighting hampered by the co-location of the BESS with the turbines. No amount of mitigation measures will reduce the risk to a level where this community is safe.
Please do not allow our lives to be put at risk by this desperate attempt to make an otherwise stalled project financially viable. The developer does not care about human life, only about commercial returns.
Our government has a responsibility to protect its citizens, not knowingly make decisions that put lives at risk.
I implore you to reject this proposed modification.
Regards
Sheri Norton

This plan must not be approved as Thermal Runaway Fires burn for days - billowing poisonous smoke and releasing irreversibly contaminating residue - affecting vast areas and poisoning the public.

CSIRO explicitly states there is no certified method to extinguish lithium-ion battery fires, meaning failures escalate into uncontrollable thermal runaway events.
CSIRO Advisory Note AN-004 – Extinguishment of Lithium-Ion Battery Fires

Contamination and Waste Management are issues that are being swept under the carpet. It’s time government stop putting renewable energy targets ahead of the nation’s public health and food security. Please see attachment: