The New South Wales (NSW) Land and Environment Court has dismissed an appeal seeking to overturn the Independent Planning Commission’s (IPC) 2024 decision to grant development approval for the $166 million (USD 116 million) Wallaroo Solar Farm being progressed near the NSW and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) border.
The Wallaroo project, being developed by Spanish-Japanese renewable energy company Univergy Solar and Canberra-headquartered partner New Energy Development, includes a 100 MW solar farm and a 45 MW / 90 MWh battery energy storage system.
The project, planned for a 393-hectare site near the rural community of Wallaroo about 30 kilometres northeast of Canberra, secured IPC development approval in 2024 but local residents opposed to the project subsequently launched an appeal in the NSW Land and Environment Court.
Those opponents said the proposed development was unsuitable for the area, claiming it would have significant adverse impacts on the scenic quality and landscape character of the region and the visual amenity of local landowners.
They also pointed to potential contamination from damaged batteries.
That appeal has now been dismissed with NSW Land and Environment Court Commissioner Susan O’Neill saying she is satisfied the project is in the broader public interest and that the site is suitable for the proposed development given its avoidance of major environmental constraints and location close to existing electricity transmission networks.
In her findings, O’Neill said many of the opponents’ objections were “underpinned by an assumption that a solar array within a viewscape is inherently undesirable” but noted that “large-scale solar energy developments are not by their nature inconsistent with maintaining a rural character.”
O’Neill said that after viewing the site from a number of locations she was satisfied that the proposed development’s impacts on the land and the visual amenity of local landowners are acceptable.
She also highlighted the potential for grazing activities to continue on the project site with the solar farm to occupy less than half of the 393 ha site.
“I accept that the proposed development will not affect the agricultural capacity of the land due to the ability to continue to use all of the site including the land occupied by the proposed development for grazing, and the ability to rehabilitate and return that part of the site occupied by the development footprint entirely to agricultural use following decommissioning,” she said.
New Energy Development and Univergy International say the proposed development is forecast to generate about 260 MWh of clean energy per annum, enough to supply about 48,000 homes in NSW and the ACT.
The facility is to connect to the national electricity grid via an existing TransGrid 132 kV line located adjacent to the site’s eastern boundary.
The project is expected to generate up to 200 jobs during the peak construction phase.
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