Name Withheld
Object
Name Withheld
Object
Horsham
,
Victoria
Message
The project footprint appears to have increased after initial Major Works portal submissions were approved and then modified, so at what point does expansion require an entirely new assessment?
Name Withheld
Object
Name Withheld
Object
Moulamein
,
New South Wales
Message
Contaminated run off during heavy rainfall or firefighting events poses a serious environmental concern, so what happens if containment systems fail under extreme conditions?
Name Withheld
Object
Name Withheld
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Romsay
,
Victoria
Message
The risk of PA contamination entering soil or groundwater through leaks, accidents, or fire events has not been clearly addressed, so who will monitor and remediate impacts over decades?
sosmoulamein
Object
sosmoulamein
Object
moulamein
,
New South Wales
Message
The physical footprint of this project will permanently industrialise a substantial area of Mayfield West, so how can land of this scale ever truly be restored to its original condition?
Ian McDonald
Object
Ian McDonald
Object
WALCHA
,
New South Wales
Message
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 attached for details:
Attachments
Name Withheld
Object
Name Withheld
Object
Mendooran
,
New South Wales
Message
I object to this project. Explore a reliable form of energy such as nuclear. Explore a cleaner form of energy such as nuclear. Solar and BESS are too dangerous for the environment. Solar and BESS presents significant fire risks.
The toxic run-off from such infrastructure associated with solar factory farms will be damaging to nearby properties and wildlife.
These projects bring with them too many detrimental and dangerous issues pertaining to the environment, visual amenities, health to livestock and wildlife, and health and safety to neighbouring properties.
The toxic run-off from such infrastructure associated with solar factory farms will be damaging to nearby properties and wildlife.
These projects bring with them too many detrimental and dangerous issues pertaining to the environment, visual amenities, health to livestock and wildlife, and health and safety to neighbouring properties.
Name Withheld
Object
Name Withheld
Object
MOLLYAN
,
New South Wales
Message
I object to the Manildra Solar Farm Modification 3 project.
Why is our government forcing FIRE HAZARDOUS infrastructure and UNRELIABLE energy on our nation at the expense of rural Australia?!?
Save the land that supports and produces food and fibre for Australia. Put these elsewhere! Stop bowing down and bending over to the EVIL powers of the WEF.
These projects are destroying rural Australia and will send future generations broke!!
Why is our government forcing FIRE HAZARDOUS infrastructure and UNRELIABLE energy on our nation at the expense of rural Australia?!?
Save the land that supports and produces food and fibre for Australia. Put these elsewhere! Stop bowing down and bending over to the EVIL powers of the WEF.
These projects are destroying rural Australia and will send future generations broke!!
Name Withheld
Object
Name Withheld
Object
LAKE ALBERT
,
New South Wales
Message
I absolutely object to the sneaky, underhanded proposal to circumvent due process by attempting to add a filthy, extremely hazardous, life threatening 60 MW / 240 MWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) to the obnoxious Manildra Solar Electricity Generating Works under Modification 3.
This submission is lodged with the utmost concern for public safety, environmental protection, and procedural integrity.
1. Strong Objection to Fast-Tracking as a “Modification”
It is entirely unacceptable for DPHI to treat this BESS as a mere modification rather than a new, stand-alone project requiring full public exhibition.
The Manildra Solar Electricity Generating Works has never included a BESS, making this a fundamental change, not a minor adjustment.
Attempting to bypass proper exhibition, IPCN review, and independent scrutiny is procedurally improper, misleading, and disingenuous, denying the community the opportunity to assess a project that introduces serious new hazards and environmental risks.
DPHI must require a full Planning Portal exhibition, including independent technical, environmental, and social impact assessments, before any approval can be considered.
2. Inadequate and Misleading Assessment Reports
The Social Impact Assessment (SIA), Bushfire Risk Assessment, and Hazard Analysis provided are grossly inadequate, inaccurate, and disingenuous:
They rely on desktop modelling only, ignoring real-world fire, chemical, and environmental risks.
Social impacts are seriously under-assessed, failing to account for solastalgia, community stress, property value impacts, and potential health consequences.
Hazard analyses ignore known thermal runaway, chemical release, and PFAS contamination risks, giving the impression the BESS is far safer than it is.
These assessments appear designed solely to fast-track a project serving globalist, CCP-linked supply chains, rather than to protect the Australian public or environment.
3. Environmental, Health, and Safety Risks
This BESS represents a toxic, fire-prone, and environmentally catastrophic infrastructure project:
Chemical hazards: Hydrogen fluoride (HF), hydrofluoric acid, heavy metals, Bis-FASI PFAS, and other “forever chemicals” pose lethal risks to our lungs, soil, water, and wildlife.
Fire hazard: Lithium-ion batteries are prone to thermal runaway, producing inextinguishable fires that release highly toxic plumes.
Short lifespan: The BESS is designed for 10–15 years, providing only short-term energy storage that cannot reliably stabilise the grid.
No recycling or decommissioning plan exists; without a secure bond, local landowners and councils will be burdened with irreversible contamination liability.
Cumulative toxicity: Existing heavy metal and PFOS contamination from industrial solar panels at Manildra will compound the risks, creating permanent damage to land, water, biodiversity, public health and safety.
4. National Security and Economic Concerns
BESS components are CCP-dependent and hackable remotely, introducing serious security vulnerabilities.
The project is financially speculative, with licences and approvals appearing forged and inadequately scrutinised.
No comprehensive public health, environmental, or economic risk assessments have been conducted, despite well-known hazards.
The proposal fails to deliver energy security, grid stability, or public benefit—it enriches private and foreign interests at the expense of Australians.
5. Deficiencies in Technology and Energy Contribution
Lithium-ion BESS cannot provide reliable, on-demand power and fail to contribute synchronous inertia critical for grid stability.
The ISP, used to justify such projects, is discredited, compromised, and not independent.
The project will increase costs for households and industry, creating energy poverty without delivering meaningful climate, environmental, or economic benefits.
6. Contradiction with Ecologically Sustainable Development
This project directly violates all four principles of Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD):
Environmental protection: introduces irreversible contamination and toxic hazards.
Social equity: imposes health and safety risks on local communities without consent.
Economic viability: delivers no net benefit, creates massive liability, and enriches private and foreign interests.
Intergenerational equity: leaves permanent environmental and financial burdens for future generations.
It also defies the objectives of the National Electricity Law, undermining energy security, food security, biodiversity, public health, and national sovereignty.
7. Demand for Proper Exhibition
DPHI must not allow this BESS to be approved via a modification:
Full public exhibition is required, including updated and independent Social, Environmental, and Hazard Impact Assessments.
A thorough risk audit must evaluate toxic chemical hazards, fire risks, supply chain vulnerabilities, and national security implications.
The project must include a binding bond for decommissioning and remediation before any approval is granted.
Community concerns must be genuinely addressed, not ignored through misleading desktop modelling or disingenuous assessments.
8. Conclusion
This BESS proposal is highly dangerous, environmentally toxic, economically reckless, and procedurally improper.
It is an attempt to circumvent the law and community scrutiny, serving globalist interests rather than the public good.
DPHI must require full exhibition and independent review.
Failure to do so would constitute gross negligence in the protection of public health, safety, and the environment.
STORAGE REQUIREMENTS FOR 100% EASTERN AUSTRALIAN GRID SCENARIO -
“Pursuing this grand dream of “Renewable Energy Superpower” for Australia is, to use a term of Mark Mills, “an exercise in magical thinking”. Put simply, it is time that this nonsense ceased.
Similarly, as far as I am able to determine, no relevant Australian government authority has performed and made publicly available any analysis that provides any indication whatsoever, in a
readily understandable way, such as how many “Big Batteries” will be required in Eastern Australia, how they will be sourced and paid for, what are the energy requirements for their production, the waste disposal and CO2 emissions resulting therefrom, where these batteries will be sited, and, given their relatively short service life, how they will be recycled and re-used.
It beggars belief that none of this absolutely necessary preliminary, investigative work seems to have been addressed by the relevant Australian Planning Authorities.
Pursuing this grand dream of “Renewable Energy Superpower” for Australia is, to use a term of Mark Mills, “an exercise in magical thinking”. Put simply, it is time that this nonsense ceased.
Paul Miskelly
4 March 2024
e: [email protected]
*The inability of 'BATTERIES' to contribute to system strength and stability.
The parlous state of the Australian Grids, and how therefore, AER are NOT properly addressing their responsibilities.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/01/16/update-on-australian-netzero-efforts/
*”Coastal wetland deposition of cathode metals from the world’s largest lithium-ion battery fire". (Moss Landing Fire.)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-25972-8#Tab1
*The 'Sunk Cost' Trickery That Makes Renewables Seem Cheaper Than They Are - 23/07/2023.
https://www.fresheconomicthinking.com/p/the-sunk-cost-trickery-that-makes?utm_medium=web
How CSIRO justifies the exclusions:
But wait, this deception is so brazen and transparent…
Tens of billions of dollars of projects are explicitly excluded from the cost of integrating renewables.
*Energy Transition Masquerade: The $360 Billion You Pay - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0NKDozvO58
The Government has no measures to protect new energy sources from malicious actors.
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
* CCP-tied group is quietly fueling US-based climate initiatives: tax filings
'Environmentalists fueled by China are promoting policies that would increase our dependence on China'
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ccp-tied-group-quietly-fueling-us-based-climate-initiatives-tax-filings
*Chinese hackers are determined to ‘wreak havoc’ on U.S. critical infrastructure, PBS News - 2024
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/chinese-hackers-are-determined-to-wreak-havoc-on-u-s-critical-infrastructure-fbi-director-wray-warns
*China-linked Belt and Road company involved in Australian net-zero projects sparks security concerns - 17/10/2025
https://tanea.com.au/en/china-linked-belt-and-road-company-involved-in-australian-net-zero-projects-sparks-security-concerns/
*Rogue Communication Devices Found in Chinese Inverters
https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/ghost-machine-rogue-communication-devices-found-chinese-inverters-2025-05-14/
*Beautifully Hackable - Irina Slav on Energy - 12/8/24
https://irinaslav.substack.com/p/beautifully-hackable?utm_campaign=email-post&utm_source=substack
*U.S Blacklists Chinese Battery Giant
“These batteries are used in electric vehicles here in Australia”
https://www.skynews.com.au/opinion/us-military-is-concerned-america-blacklists-chinese-battery-giant-over-military-links/video/765e12fec5e3b837a5e606e40371a7f9
*Australia’s Climate Ambitions have a Modern Slavery Problem - ASPI
examining the origins of our big batteries'
https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/editors-picks-for-2024-australias-climate-ambitions-h
*Crying Shame inside the Demise of Australia’s only Battery Maker
https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/crying-shame-inside-the-demise-of-australia-s-only-battery-maker-20250901-p5mrl4
This submission is lodged with the utmost concern for public safety, environmental protection, and procedural integrity.
1. Strong Objection to Fast-Tracking as a “Modification”
It is entirely unacceptable for DPHI to treat this BESS as a mere modification rather than a new, stand-alone project requiring full public exhibition.
The Manildra Solar Electricity Generating Works has never included a BESS, making this a fundamental change, not a minor adjustment.
Attempting to bypass proper exhibition, IPCN review, and independent scrutiny is procedurally improper, misleading, and disingenuous, denying the community the opportunity to assess a project that introduces serious new hazards and environmental risks.
DPHI must require a full Planning Portal exhibition, including independent technical, environmental, and social impact assessments, before any approval can be considered.
2. Inadequate and Misleading Assessment Reports
The Social Impact Assessment (SIA), Bushfire Risk Assessment, and Hazard Analysis provided are grossly inadequate, inaccurate, and disingenuous:
They rely on desktop modelling only, ignoring real-world fire, chemical, and environmental risks.
Social impacts are seriously under-assessed, failing to account for solastalgia, community stress, property value impacts, and potential health consequences.
Hazard analyses ignore known thermal runaway, chemical release, and PFAS contamination risks, giving the impression the BESS is far safer than it is.
These assessments appear designed solely to fast-track a project serving globalist, CCP-linked supply chains, rather than to protect the Australian public or environment.
3. Environmental, Health, and Safety Risks
This BESS represents a toxic, fire-prone, and environmentally catastrophic infrastructure project:
Chemical hazards: Hydrogen fluoride (HF), hydrofluoric acid, heavy metals, Bis-FASI PFAS, and other “forever chemicals” pose lethal risks to our lungs, soil, water, and wildlife.
Fire hazard: Lithium-ion batteries are prone to thermal runaway, producing inextinguishable fires that release highly toxic plumes.
Short lifespan: The BESS is designed for 10–15 years, providing only short-term energy storage that cannot reliably stabilise the grid.
No recycling or decommissioning plan exists; without a secure bond, local landowners and councils will be burdened with irreversible contamination liability.
Cumulative toxicity: Existing heavy metal and PFOS contamination from industrial solar panels at Manildra will compound the risks, creating permanent damage to land, water, biodiversity, public health and safety.
4. National Security and Economic Concerns
BESS components are CCP-dependent and hackable remotely, introducing serious security vulnerabilities.
The project is financially speculative, with licences and approvals appearing forged and inadequately scrutinised.
No comprehensive public health, environmental, or economic risk assessments have been conducted, despite well-known hazards.
The proposal fails to deliver energy security, grid stability, or public benefit—it enriches private and foreign interests at the expense of Australians.
5. Deficiencies in Technology and Energy Contribution
Lithium-ion BESS cannot provide reliable, on-demand power and fail to contribute synchronous inertia critical for grid stability.
The ISP, used to justify such projects, is discredited, compromised, and not independent.
The project will increase costs for households and industry, creating energy poverty without delivering meaningful climate, environmental, or economic benefits.
6. Contradiction with Ecologically Sustainable Development
This project directly violates all four principles of Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD):
Environmental protection: introduces irreversible contamination and toxic hazards.
Social equity: imposes health and safety risks on local communities without consent.
Economic viability: delivers no net benefit, creates massive liability, and enriches private and foreign interests.
Intergenerational equity: leaves permanent environmental and financial burdens for future generations.
It also defies the objectives of the National Electricity Law, undermining energy security, food security, biodiversity, public health, and national sovereignty.
7. Demand for Proper Exhibition
DPHI must not allow this BESS to be approved via a modification:
Full public exhibition is required, including updated and independent Social, Environmental, and Hazard Impact Assessments.
A thorough risk audit must evaluate toxic chemical hazards, fire risks, supply chain vulnerabilities, and national security implications.
The project must include a binding bond for decommissioning and remediation before any approval is granted.
Community concerns must be genuinely addressed, not ignored through misleading desktop modelling or disingenuous assessments.
8. Conclusion
This BESS proposal is highly dangerous, environmentally toxic, economically reckless, and procedurally improper.
It is an attempt to circumvent the law and community scrutiny, serving globalist interests rather than the public good.
DPHI must require full exhibition and independent review.
Failure to do so would constitute gross negligence in the protection of public health, safety, and the environment.
STORAGE REQUIREMENTS FOR 100% EASTERN AUSTRALIAN GRID SCENARIO -
“Pursuing this grand dream of “Renewable Energy Superpower” for Australia is, to use a term of Mark Mills, “an exercise in magical thinking”. Put simply, it is time that this nonsense ceased.
Similarly, as far as I am able to determine, no relevant Australian government authority has performed and made publicly available any analysis that provides any indication whatsoever, in a
readily understandable way, such as how many “Big Batteries” will be required in Eastern Australia, how they will be sourced and paid for, what are the energy requirements for their production, the waste disposal and CO2 emissions resulting therefrom, where these batteries will be sited, and, given their relatively short service life, how they will be recycled and re-used.
It beggars belief that none of this absolutely necessary preliminary, investigative work seems to have been addressed by the relevant Australian Planning Authorities.
Pursuing this grand dream of “Renewable Energy Superpower” for Australia is, to use a term of Mark Mills, “an exercise in magical thinking”. Put simply, it is time that this nonsense ceased.
Paul Miskelly
4 March 2024
e: [email protected]
*The inability of 'BATTERIES' to contribute to system strength and stability.
The parlous state of the Australian Grids, and how therefore, AER are NOT properly addressing their responsibilities.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/01/16/update-on-australian-netzero-efforts/
*”Coastal wetland deposition of cathode metals from the world’s largest lithium-ion battery fire". (Moss Landing Fire.)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-25972-8#Tab1
*The 'Sunk Cost' Trickery That Makes Renewables Seem Cheaper Than They Are - 23/07/2023.
https://www.fresheconomicthinking.com/p/the-sunk-cost-trickery-that-makes?utm_medium=web
How CSIRO justifies the exclusions:
But wait, this deception is so brazen and transparent…
Tens of billions of dollars of projects are explicitly excluded from the cost of integrating renewables.
*Energy Transition Masquerade: The $360 Billion You Pay - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0NKDozvO58
The Government has no measures to protect new energy sources from malicious actors.
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
* CCP-tied group is quietly fueling US-based climate initiatives: tax filings
'Environmentalists fueled by China are promoting policies that would increase our dependence on China'
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ccp-tied-group-quietly-fueling-us-based-climate-initiatives-tax-filings
*Chinese hackers are determined to ‘wreak havoc’ on U.S. critical infrastructure, PBS News - 2024
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/chinese-hackers-are-determined-to-wreak-havoc-on-u-s-critical-infrastructure-fbi-director-wray-warns
*China-linked Belt and Road company involved in Australian net-zero projects sparks security concerns - 17/10/2025
https://tanea.com.au/en/china-linked-belt-and-road-company-involved-in-australian-net-zero-projects-sparks-security-concerns/
*Rogue Communication Devices Found in Chinese Inverters
https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/ghost-machine-rogue-communication-devices-found-chinese-inverters-2025-05-14/
*Beautifully Hackable - Irina Slav on Energy - 12/8/24
https://irinaslav.substack.com/p/beautifully-hackable?utm_campaign=email-post&utm_source=substack
*U.S Blacklists Chinese Battery Giant
“These batteries are used in electric vehicles here in Australia”
https://www.skynews.com.au/opinion/us-military-is-concerned-america-blacklists-chinese-battery-giant-over-military-links/video/765e12fec5e3b837a5e606e40371a7f9
*Australia’s Climate Ambitions have a Modern Slavery Problem - ASPI
examining the origins of our big batteries'
https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/editors-picks-for-2024-australias-climate-ambitions-h
*Crying Shame inside the Demise of Australia’s only Battery Maker
https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/crying-shame-inside-the-demise-of-australia-s-only-battery-maker-20250901-p5mrl4
Save Our Surroundings Riverina
Object
Save Our Surroundings Riverina
Object
Lake Albert
,
New South Wales
Message
Objection Submission – Manildra Solar Farm Modification 3 (BESS 60MW/240MWh)
Applicant: Manildra Solar Farm Pty Ltd / Banpu Energy
Planner: Nestor Tsambos
DPHI Reference: MP10_0122-Mod-3
Due: 05/03/2026
To the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (DPHI):
We are lodging our formal objection to this Modification 3 proposal to incorporate a 60 MW/240 MWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) at the Manildra Solar Electricity Generating Works.
This objection is submitted with the utmost concern and urgency.
1. Absolute Necessity for Proper Exhibition and IPCN Scrutiny
It is wholly unacceptable for DPHI to attempt to fast-track this BESS project as a “modification” rather than requiring a full exhibition under the Planning Portal, including proper Independent Planning Commission Notification (IPCN) scrutiny.
Manildra Solar Electricity Generating Works has NEVER included a BESS in its development consent.
This is not a minor adjustment—it is a fundamental expansion of scope that materially alters the project’s risks, environmental footprint, and social impacts.
Modifying an existing consent to bypass public exhibition is irresponsible, misleading, and procedurally improper. The community, landowners, and relevant stakeholders have not been provided a meaningful opportunity to evaluate this entirely new and inherently hazardous infrastructure.
DPHI must immediately require a full public exhibition for this BESS project, including updated Environmental Impact Statement regarding all aspects eg. Social Impact Assessments, Bushfire and Hazard Assessments, Toxic Contamination and independent risk analyses.
Anything less constitutes a deliberate circumvention of democratic and statutory planning processes.
2. Flawed Social Impact, Bushfire & Hazard Assessments
The Social Impact Assessment (SIA), Bushfire Assessment, and Hazard Analysis provided are, frankly, desktop “GIGO” exercises—Garbage In Garbage Out—designed to justify fast-tracking a dangerous project for the benefit of vested interests, including global CCP-aligned supply chains and predatory investors.
These assessments are irresponsible, inappropriate, irrelevant, and misinformed, ignoring real-world, long-term, cumulative impacts on human health, public safety, biodiversity, agricultural productivity, and water security.
They are clearly written to support an agenda—the ASEAN Power Grid and globalist energy profiteering, not the public interest or ecological sustainability.
3. Toxic, Hazardous, and Irreversible Environmental Impacts
The proposed BESS presents extreme hazards to life, land, water, biodiversity, and the public:
Chemical hazards: Hydrogen fluoride (HF) gas, hydrofluoric acid, heavy metals, Bis-FASI PFAS contaminants.
Fire hazard: Lithium-ion BESS are a known source of inextinguishable fires, releasing toxic plumes lethal to humans and wildlife.
Agricultural contamination: PFAS, heavy metals, and chemical leachates from BESS and industrial solar panels permanently poison soil and water.
No effective recycling or decommissioning plan: There is no bond or guarantee that contaminated land or water will be remediated; responsibility will fall to landowners and local councils.
Short lifespan: BESS lasts only 10–15 years, offering short-term energy storage that is inherently unreliable, further compounding environmental and financial risk.
4. National Security, Economic, and Ethical Concerns
Components are CCP-reliant, with supply chains controlled by our most hostile geopolitical actor.
Some devices are remotely hackable, introducing national security risks.
No genuine risk assessment or regulatory framework exists to ensure public health, safety, or ethical sourcing of components.
The economic licence is forged, and the project fails to comply with any rigorous Environmental, Safety, or Ethical standards.
There is no social licence, as the public is not factually informed, gains no meaningful benefit, and the BESS infrastructure actively undermines energy security, food security, biodiversity, and economic productivity.
5. Fundamental Failures of BESS Technology
Lithium-ion BESS cannot provide reliable, on-demand power, nor do they contribute synchronous inertia essential for grid stability.
Their integration does not reduce energy prices and creates economic distortions.
The ISP (Integrated System Plan) used to justify these investments is widely discredited, fatally compromised, and not independent.
Net-zero schemes and BESS proliferation are being abandoned globally due to their highly hazardous nature, along with their economic and technical impracticality.
6. Cumulative, Irreversible, and Life-Threatening Impacts
Already present heavy metals leaching from unethically sourced, PFOS-coated solar panels at Manildra will compound the BESS hazards, guaranteeing irreversible contamination of land, water, biodiversity and the public.
Thermal runaway, fire, or structural failure of the BESS will release forever chemicals, toxic smoke, and carcinogens, threatening public health and local ecosystems.
No remediation bond exists, and adequate public liability is attainable beyond $50 Million in Australia for neighbour victims - unjustly being subjected to harmful industrial electrification that has no place whatsoever midst healthy food production.
The decommissioning and land/water contamination/pollution burden will inevitably fall to the gullible, local landowner Host and Cabonne Shire Council under the POEO Act when these dodgy developers abandon the site.
7. Contradiction with Ecologically Sustainable Development & National Energy Objectives
This proposal is the antithesis of Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) and the National Electricity Law (NEL) objectives:
It undermines energy security by being weather-dependent, intermittent, and short-lived.
It fails to protect biodiversity, soil, water, and Intergenerational Equity, instead creating irreversible hazards.
It enriches vested interests while burdening the public now and generations of the future with costs, liability, and risk.
It deliberately hides dangers under the guise of ‘renewable’ energy propaganda.
8. References Supporting This Objection
Independent, peer-reviewed, and journalistic sources consistently confirm the hazards and limitations of lithium-ion BESS:
Forever chemicals in lithium-ion batteries – The Guardian, 14/7/24
Moss Landing Battery Fire Toxicity – Nature Scientific Reports
Grid-Scale BESS Safety & Fire Risk – ResearchGate
CSIRO ActivFire® Advisory Note AN‑004 – Firefighting limitations of lithium-ion batteries
Commonwealth PFAS Ban – Regulatory status of hazardous chemicals, effective 1 July 2025
Patricia Adams, China’s Energy Dream, GWPF
9. Required Actions
DPHI must:
Immediately require full public exhibition for this BESS, including independent review and updated assessments.
Conduct a comprehensive risk audit of toxic, fire, public health, and national security hazards.
Halt any approval or fast-tracking of BESS under a modification until robust independent scrutiny is completed.
Investigate the legitimacy of economic licence and ensure compliance with environmental, ethical, and safety legislation.
Consider the cumulative and irreversible environmental impacts, including responsibility for decommissioning and remediation.
Conclusion
This BESS proposal at Manildra is an unmitigated disaster masquerading as a ‘renewable’ energy project.
It is short-lived, toxic, fire-prone, environmentally catastrophic, economically reckless, and nationally insecure.
It must not proceed under a modification!
Full exhibition, independent review, and public scrutiny are legally and morally required.
Failure to act exposes the public, environment, and national security to unacceptable, irreversible harm.
References:
*The Battery Storage Delusion
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/08/20/the-battery-storage-delusion-what-35-million-tons-of-industrial-effort-buys-you/
*’Forever chemicals’ used in Lithium Ion Batteries Threaten Environment, Research Finds
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/jul/14/forever-chemicals-lithium-ion-batteries-environment
*Coastal Wetland Deposition of Cathode Metals from the World’s Largest Lithium-ion Battery Fire"
According to independent Experts this is actually worse than a radioactivity spill.
A lot of this very toxic stuff is not easily located. Whereas, with radioactivity, one needs just a hand-held Geiger counter to locate the pollutant.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-25972-8#Tab1
*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 & requires urgent review. The explosion potential & the lack of engineering standards to prevent thermal runaway may put control of “battery fires” beyond the knowledge, experience & 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/
Applicant: Manildra Solar Farm Pty Ltd / Banpu Energy
Planner: Nestor Tsambos
DPHI Reference: MP10_0122-Mod-3
Due: 05/03/2026
To the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (DPHI):
We are lodging our formal objection to this Modification 3 proposal to incorporate a 60 MW/240 MWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) at the Manildra Solar Electricity Generating Works.
This objection is submitted with the utmost concern and urgency.
1. Absolute Necessity for Proper Exhibition and IPCN Scrutiny
It is wholly unacceptable for DPHI to attempt to fast-track this BESS project as a “modification” rather than requiring a full exhibition under the Planning Portal, including proper Independent Planning Commission Notification (IPCN) scrutiny.
Manildra Solar Electricity Generating Works has NEVER included a BESS in its development consent.
This is not a minor adjustment—it is a fundamental expansion of scope that materially alters the project’s risks, environmental footprint, and social impacts.
Modifying an existing consent to bypass public exhibition is irresponsible, misleading, and procedurally improper. The community, landowners, and relevant stakeholders have not been provided a meaningful opportunity to evaluate this entirely new and inherently hazardous infrastructure.
DPHI must immediately require a full public exhibition for this BESS project, including updated Environmental Impact Statement regarding all aspects eg. Social Impact Assessments, Bushfire and Hazard Assessments, Toxic Contamination and independent risk analyses.
Anything less constitutes a deliberate circumvention of democratic and statutory planning processes.
2. Flawed Social Impact, Bushfire & Hazard Assessments
The Social Impact Assessment (SIA), Bushfire Assessment, and Hazard Analysis provided are, frankly, desktop “GIGO” exercises—Garbage In Garbage Out—designed to justify fast-tracking a dangerous project for the benefit of vested interests, including global CCP-aligned supply chains and predatory investors.
These assessments are irresponsible, inappropriate, irrelevant, and misinformed, ignoring real-world, long-term, cumulative impacts on human health, public safety, biodiversity, agricultural productivity, and water security.
They are clearly written to support an agenda—the ASEAN Power Grid and globalist energy profiteering, not the public interest or ecological sustainability.
3. Toxic, Hazardous, and Irreversible Environmental Impacts
The proposed BESS presents extreme hazards to life, land, water, biodiversity, and the public:
Chemical hazards: Hydrogen fluoride (HF) gas, hydrofluoric acid, heavy metals, Bis-FASI PFAS contaminants.
Fire hazard: Lithium-ion BESS are a known source of inextinguishable fires, releasing toxic plumes lethal to humans and wildlife.
Agricultural contamination: PFAS, heavy metals, and chemical leachates from BESS and industrial solar panels permanently poison soil and water.
No effective recycling or decommissioning plan: There is no bond or guarantee that contaminated land or water will be remediated; responsibility will fall to landowners and local councils.
Short lifespan: BESS lasts only 10–15 years, offering short-term energy storage that is inherently unreliable, further compounding environmental and financial risk.
4. National Security, Economic, and Ethical Concerns
Components are CCP-reliant, with supply chains controlled by our most hostile geopolitical actor.
Some devices are remotely hackable, introducing national security risks.
No genuine risk assessment or regulatory framework exists to ensure public health, safety, or ethical sourcing of components.
The economic licence is forged, and the project fails to comply with any rigorous Environmental, Safety, or Ethical standards.
There is no social licence, as the public is not factually informed, gains no meaningful benefit, and the BESS infrastructure actively undermines energy security, food security, biodiversity, and economic productivity.
5. Fundamental Failures of BESS Technology
Lithium-ion BESS cannot provide reliable, on-demand power, nor do they contribute synchronous inertia essential for grid stability.
Their integration does not reduce energy prices and creates economic distortions.
The ISP (Integrated System Plan) used to justify these investments is widely discredited, fatally compromised, and not independent.
Net-zero schemes and BESS proliferation are being abandoned globally due to their highly hazardous nature, along with their economic and technical impracticality.
6. Cumulative, Irreversible, and Life-Threatening Impacts
Already present heavy metals leaching from unethically sourced, PFOS-coated solar panels at Manildra will compound the BESS hazards, guaranteeing irreversible contamination of land, water, biodiversity and the public.
Thermal runaway, fire, or structural failure of the BESS will release forever chemicals, toxic smoke, and carcinogens, threatening public health and local ecosystems.
No remediation bond exists, and adequate public liability is attainable beyond $50 Million in Australia for neighbour victims - unjustly being subjected to harmful industrial electrification that has no place whatsoever midst healthy food production.
The decommissioning and land/water contamination/pollution burden will inevitably fall to the gullible, local landowner Host and Cabonne Shire Council under the POEO Act when these dodgy developers abandon the site.
7. Contradiction with Ecologically Sustainable Development & National Energy Objectives
This proposal is the antithesis of Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) and the National Electricity Law (NEL) objectives:
It undermines energy security by being weather-dependent, intermittent, and short-lived.
It fails to protect biodiversity, soil, water, and Intergenerational Equity, instead creating irreversible hazards.
It enriches vested interests while burdening the public now and generations of the future with costs, liability, and risk.
It deliberately hides dangers under the guise of ‘renewable’ energy propaganda.
8. References Supporting This Objection
Independent, peer-reviewed, and journalistic sources consistently confirm the hazards and limitations of lithium-ion BESS:
Forever chemicals in lithium-ion batteries – The Guardian, 14/7/24
Moss Landing Battery Fire Toxicity – Nature Scientific Reports
Grid-Scale BESS Safety & Fire Risk – ResearchGate
CSIRO ActivFire® Advisory Note AN‑004 – Firefighting limitations of lithium-ion batteries
Commonwealth PFAS Ban – Regulatory status of hazardous chemicals, effective 1 July 2025
Patricia Adams, China’s Energy Dream, GWPF
9. Required Actions
DPHI must:
Immediately require full public exhibition for this BESS, including independent review and updated assessments.
Conduct a comprehensive risk audit of toxic, fire, public health, and national security hazards.
Halt any approval or fast-tracking of BESS under a modification until robust independent scrutiny is completed.
Investigate the legitimacy of economic licence and ensure compliance with environmental, ethical, and safety legislation.
Consider the cumulative and irreversible environmental impacts, including responsibility for decommissioning and remediation.
Conclusion
This BESS proposal at Manildra is an unmitigated disaster masquerading as a ‘renewable’ energy project.
It is short-lived, toxic, fire-prone, environmentally catastrophic, economically reckless, and nationally insecure.
It must not proceed under a modification!
Full exhibition, independent review, and public scrutiny are legally and morally required.
Failure to act exposes the public, environment, and national security to unacceptable, irreversible harm.
References:
*The Battery Storage Delusion
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/08/20/the-battery-storage-delusion-what-35-million-tons-of-industrial-effort-buys-you/
*’Forever chemicals’ used in Lithium Ion Batteries Threaten Environment, Research Finds
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/jul/14/forever-chemicals-lithium-ion-batteries-environment
*Coastal Wetland Deposition of Cathode Metals from the World’s Largest Lithium-ion Battery Fire"
According to independent Experts this is actually worse than a radioactivity spill.
A lot of this very toxic stuff is not easily located. Whereas, with radioactivity, one needs just a hand-held Geiger counter to locate the pollutant.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-25972-8#Tab1
*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 & requires urgent review. The explosion potential & the lack of engineering standards to prevent thermal runaway may put control of “battery fires” beyond the knowledge, experience & 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/