'Totally wrong place': residents unite in fight against 'sea of steel'

The Loomberah Family and Farmland (LFF) committee has formed in the wake of a proposal to build an 800,000* panel solar farm across 950-hectares in what the group has dubbed the "totally wrong place".

Solar farm developer and renewable energy advocate Ben Wynn has joined the committee in a bid to help Loomberah residents put a stop to the project.

Mr Wynn, told the Leader the scale of the project would impact the community, and the ability to produce food and fibre.

"It's dumb to go ahead and take beautiful prime agricultural land," he said.

The proposal, which was previously named the Acacia Solar Project, is slated to sit between Kia Ora Lane and Duri-Dungowan Road.

Venn Energy, the developer behind the project, has proposed to build the solar farm and Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) to help power 180,000 homes across the state.

Mr Wynn said the proposal has not achieved the fine balancing act between solar and maintaining agricultural land, which he said can be done.

The renewable energy developer told the Leader with higher panels, and wider space between rows, solar farms can be designed to retain the functionality of the underneath agricultural land.

"This has got none of those principles," he said.

"This is just jam as many panels as you can into as many acres as you can."

Mr Wynn said as a country the shift to solar can be done, but it needs to be done correctly and in the right place, rather than an "opportunistic" grab at land made for grazing and cropping.

Loomberah resident Rachel Tongue, who will be a potential neighbour to the solar farm if it's constructed, said the "massive" proposal is tearing the community apart.

"The land will never be the same again," she said.

Ms Tongue, whose family has been farming in Loomberah for more than 100 years, said she has an "emotional connection" to the land, which nobody wants to lose.

"It's going to devalue our property and take opportunities away from our future farmers," she said.

The proposed solar farm has been slated for the area due to the "excellent solar exposure" and the "minimal disturbance of native vegetation and wildlife", according to the project website.

If approved, the project would create 350 employment and contractor opportunities and five ongoing permanent positions for onsite maintenance.

The project is expected to have a 30 year life, with construction expected to start in 2025, pending approvals.

A spokesperson from Venn Energy told the Leader the company has been engaging with community members through public information sessions, letters, and detailed consultation with immediate neighbours since 2022.

This is the initial stage of the community engagement approach, and outreach will extend into the broader community in the coming months.

A 'scoping report', which was lodged with the department on January 22, 2023 but is not yet publicly available, will also include a detailed community plan and specific details and intentions of the project.

"Our key goals for community engagement are to understand community concerns, to educate, and inform on the project," the spokesperson said.

"As we enter the next phase of project development, we will be following industry and state best practices to minimise, mitigate, and address the impacts that arise from the proposed development."

The spokesperson said the project had changed names in response to a recommendation from the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure to represent the proposal's connection to the local area.

The project outline as also increased in size under the new name, when plans for 'Acacia' were first released the proposed area was 780-hectares, which has now increased to 950.

But the spokesperson said the expected capacity and number of solar panels has remained unchanged.

"The increased footprint avoids areas of potentially high biodiversity value to better manage and minimise any potential impacts," the spokesperson said.

"This change takes into account existing biodiversity studies and also allows us to consider further measures to mitigate other biodiversity, visual, or community impacts."

The spokesperson said it will be common for the project to change in scope and size as further studies are undertaken, and an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is expected to be submitted in the next nine months.

On the ground, the Loomberah committee is hoping to get as many people as they can to join the fight against the farm, before it's too late.

"We've been really blessed with our community members who have come together," Ms Tongue said.

"But once construction starts, it's too late, we want to raise awareness and we need people to follow us."

*Editor's note: this story has been updated to read 800,000 panel solar farm, the number of panels was previously reported as 8000,000.