The proposed project modifications for the inclusion of decentralised BESS units at specified turbine locations at the proposed Coppabella WF is an unacceptable risk in a fire prone area. Vistra Energy's Moss Landing BESS Battery facility in California on January 16, 2025 serves as a dire warning to placing this infrastructure in inappropriate areas. Added to this risk is the inability to fight fires from the air where there are turbines. I have personally fought many bushfires in this area, more than anyone should ever have to, and know that these steep hills, with this proposed infrastructure is a disaster waiting to happen. Furthermore, research shows that once tall wind turbines are installed, many more lightning strikes terminate on or very close to the turbines than before they were built, mainly within a few hundred meters of the towers. That’s due to their height and their tendency to launch upward lightning. Installing BESS batteries amongst infrastructure that attracts and causes lightning is an unacceptable fire risk, if these BESS batteries catch on fire there is no way to put them out and the consequences will be horrific to the environment and to the nearby communities. This modification cannot be allowed to proceed.

I am very concerned at the scale of this project. It is MUCH too large and will be seen for miles around. This is taking advantage of rural communities and will impact their quality of life considerably. Mental health issues will rise with this imposition.
Key very real issues:
It will destroy the landscape, the visual impact of scenery, the community identity.
Noise is a well known issue l, sleep disturbance
Blight on landscape - these will spoil a beautiful part of NSW
Aircraft safety given height
These will reduce the appeal for tourism, and as a destination
It will reduce property prices as people won’t choose to live near this .
Major impact on Birdlife given scale of blades
The huge battery storage is a major concern in the event of bush fire, they won’t be able to put them out, and they will further endanger people and livestock.
Intermittent power and some turbine failures
At the end of their life, when they are obsolete, the massive wind turbines are not recycled and will remain the concern of the farm owner they sit on.

SOLAR farms are more tolerable for the community and environmental.
Technology is changing quickly and these will become obsolete in a short time.

The community is strongly opposed to this
The land is high quality farming land that we need for food production.
Other communities such as Henty are asking for such projects as their soil is poor.
Do better and get this project stopped.
Listen to the community.
The issues are real.

Wind turbines affect terrestrial communications when electromagnetic signals travel through a wind factory to a receiving antenna. Blades of turbines reflect signals in other directions, scattering signals leaving televisions with scrambled pictures, radio stations are fuzzy and mobile phone coverage is impacted.

Communications are important during emergency situations (bushfires, floods, storm season etc).

Binalong, Boorowa, parts of Bowning, Kangiara and surrounding areas receive signals from Mt Ulandra for television and local ABC radio. The Coppabella site is located between Mt Ulandra and these communities.

The Coppabella development does not intend to implement retransmission services to avoid impact to available television stations and radio stations.

We do not support BESS plans near our communities being in a fire prone area. Already, we cannot have aerial fire fighting equipment near wind turbines…

Looking at statistics with lithium ion fires thus far:

Recent Trends
2024: Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) responded to around 318-323 lithium-ion battery fires, up from 272 in 2023.
Early 2025: Reports indicated over 290 fires by December, with 25 recorded by February alone, highlighting the growing danger.
Frequency: This averages to roughly 5-6 fires per week, with the trend continuing upward.

This increases our risk and we do not wish to have this here.

I strongly object to this project.
This area is in a rugged, heavily timbered area which is frequently subject to lightning strikes. The bushfire risk of this area is extreme. Our family are volunteer fire fighters and we will not be attending a fire where there are turbines and BESS structures. This area has to be protected by aerial bombing and the pilots have agreed that it is too dangerous to fly amongst the turbines even when they are stationary. So a summer storm will start a fire and it will quickly get out of control and threaten neighbours, villages and even Yass, Murrumbateman and Canberra.

This area is heavily timbered with old growth native trees. These trees provide habitat for many animals, birds in particular require hollow limbs for nests. This project will require wholesale clearing of old growth native trees and subsequent lose of habitat. Promises of planting new trees will not be a solution as the trees take decades if not centuries to provide the correct conditions for the birds.
This is an agricultural area. We are already saturated with wind turbines. I strongly oppose the further industrialization of agricultural land.

The modification to the Goldwind Coppabella wind farm is unacceptable. The proposed BESS batteries under each turbine will create an unacceptable fire risk on the steepest hills in the area, which are not accessible by on ground fire crews. Additionally, fires from wind farms cannot be fought by aerial firefighters (please see attached expert and peer reviewed Fire Risk Report). This is a fire prone area and this added risk places communities in danger of wild fires, potentially reaching the township of Yass NSW and the city of Canberra. The landscape of these hills make the addition of BESS under each turbine implausible, these hills are prone to erosion and the works required will increase the probability of severe erosion. The project is located on slopes steeper than 20° (≈36% grade), in a soil landscape the proponent’s own documents describe as having 30–50% slope and a high erosion hazard.” This modification cannot be allowed approval.

I object to SSD-6698-MOD-2 on the grounds that the proposal introduces increased bushfire risk into an already high-risk rural landscape and does not demonstrate that these risks can be practically managed by local emergency services.
The project is located in a bushfire-prone area where terrain and limited accessibility already create elevated fire risk. The proposal to install up to 318 lithium-based battery containers across 53 ridgeline turbine sites would further increase both the likelihood and consequences of fire, as well as the risk to emergency service personnel expected to respond in this environment. There is a real likelihood that fire services would be forced into a defensive firefighting strategy, leaving the surrounding landscape and nearby properties at an unacceptable level of risk. This risk extends beyond property, it is risk to people and livestock's lives, noting that this is a predominantly agricultural setting.
Introducing hundreds of high-energy battery systems into a fire-prone landscape materially changes the risk profile of the project. Even where infrastructure is located within existing disturbance envelopes, the nature and scale of the fire hazard are fundamentally different from those considered under the original approval.
This modification therefore does not satisfy the requirement under Section 4.55 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 that a modification be “substantially the same development”.
On fire-safety grounds alone, SSD-6698-MOD-2 should not be approved. The risk to life, property, livestock, and the broader landscape is significant and has not been robustly assessed, modelled, or mitigated.

As a very near Neighbour who will see turbines from my home. By 100% of object to the project for many reasons cited by neighbours. I particularly object to the inclusion of BESS batteries with every turbine. They are enormous fire hazards in a very high danger fire zone. This is prime farmland. There are enough renewable energy in this area and ready. This is not a governance sanctioned renewable area. Object to saying about my window. I have not been consulted in anyway or contacted or recompensed.

I wish to lodge a formal objection to the proposed modification to incorporate decentralised Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) at the Coppabella Wind Farm location.

Our property is an active agricultural holding producing food for human consumption and livestock markets. The introduction of multiple industrial-scale BESS units (the size of shipping containers) in close proximity presents unacceptable and unquantified risks to agricultural production, community safety, and environmental health.

Bushfire & Emergency Response Risk
Lithium battery fires are resistant to conventional suppression and burn at extreme temperatures, producing toxic byproducts requiring large-scale exclusion zones. Local RFS brigades are primarily volunteer-based and not equipped for industrial lithium fire response on elevated terrain.

Contamination Risk to Food Production
A failure event may release heavy metals, fluorinated gases, and contaminated firewater runoff that could enter pasture, dams, soil and subsequently the human food chain. No evidence has been provided of independent agricultural impact modelling.

Land-Use Conflict
The introduction of industrial infrastructure into a rural food-producing landscape is inconsistent with the character and zoning of the region. The ongoing agricultural viability of surrounding land has not been assessed.

Decommissioning, Failure and Liability
There is insufficient detail on end-of-life disposal, remediation, and who bears liability should the operating entity become insolvent.

For these reasons, I request that the modification proposal be rejected until independent agricultural, fire safety, environmental and emergency-management studies are undertaken and publicly released.