SUBMISSION TO OXLEY SOLAR
My name is Arleen Packer, I have a degree in Rural Science with Honours, from the University of New England (UNE), a Diploma of Education, (UNE) and a Graduate Certificate in Regeneration Agriculture, (Southern Cross University). I have taught Agriculture at TAFE NSW for the past 35 years. I also represent an environmental group known as Save Our Woodlands Inc. Our website is http://saveourwoodlands.org.
TO THE INDEPENDENT PLANNING COMMISSION
I object to the Oxley Solar Farm on the following grounds:
1: The Oxley Solar Farm has no social licence. There were sixty-five objections to the project and no one is in favour of the project. I assume that the one, already extremely wealthy, landholder supports the project, and also the overseas companies who will make large amounts of money on the project but is the wealth of these few, more important than the negative effect of environmental contamination and the impact on the lives of the hundreds of people?
2: Solar and wind energy are not going to solve our shortage of electricity in the future. Both solar and wind energy are intermittent and will not provide our base power supply. We will need coal, gas or nuclear energy to provide base power into the future. Germany is an example of a country with large amounts of wind and solar energy production, Germany imports power from France, which is nuclear. Germany also exports electricity which is the nature of the intermittent production from solar and wind energy sources. Sometimes there is not enough and sometimes there is too much.
The latest figures are here:
“Germany Electricity Imports: France data was reported at 1,485,644.000 MWh in May 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 489,358.000 MWh for Apr 2023. CEIC Data (2023).”
South Australia the one so-called “green” state in Australia, imports brown coal-based power from Victoria.
3: When solar farms are decommissioned can the area be returned to agriculture? Solar panels carry toxic waste in the form of heavy metals, (lead, cadmium, lithium, strontium, nickel, barium, zinc, and copper) and metalloids (selenium). We cannot envisage that a huge solar farm will have no broken panels during its lifetime. Panels are broken during construction, they are broken during the life of the project and large numbers can be broken if there is a major storm event such as the one in Armidale in October 2021.
Robertson et al. (2019) state that Selenium, strontium, lithium, nickel, and barium levels measured in soil samples increased significantly in samples close to PV (solar) systems. The heavy metals then contaminate the land and the water surrounding the land. As these substances do not disintegrate the land can never be returned to agriculture. This project is situated on the Gara River directly above the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park. What we are creating here is a toxic waste dump which will be impossible to remediate.
4: Can solar panels be recycled? Peplow (2022) states “Today’s technologies for recycling these units are inefficient and rarely deployed. That is an enormous problem. PV panels contain toxic materials, like lead and cadmium, that can cause environmental pollution, yet many are dumped in landfills when they die. They also contain valuable materials that could be reused to make new solar cells, but today these resources are mostly wasted.”
Armidale landfill accepts solar panels as “hard waste.” When I asked about the dumping of solar panels at the new regional landfill I was told, by the current mayor, that they have no idea how many panels have been dumped. Anecdotal evidence from the truck drivers, delivering broken panels from the Uralla solar farm, indicates that one whole bay is already full of broken solar panels. This is toxic waste dumped directly above the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park and no one in authority has even commented. It appears that the Armidale Council’s lust for money completely overrides their care for the environment.
5: There is no provision in the legislation for the decommissioning of solar or wind farms. If a company wants to set up a mine, they have to pay a bond for the remediation of the area but a solar or wind farm does not have to pay anything. Our planning bodies hope that the final company owning the farm will remediate the area, as promised, but what if they just say, “Too bad, we’re leaving?” These are overseas companies, and we have no recourse. Then the landholder becomes liable, and after they declare bankruptcy, it will be up to the people of NSW, via the Government to clean up the mess. Our Government’s planning process needs some serious rethinking.
THE SOLUTION
We are not against the use of renewable energy but we do not need to destroy our environment to achieve our aims. We could easily place solar panels on every building in Sydney and other cities and towns. We could store the energy locally (for each suburb or town) and distribute this locally.
Big Business could still make a lot of money without the environmental cost, each household could be paid for the use of their roof instead of one landholder being paid a huge amount. We would not need destructive and expensive transmission lines and we could start this Immediately instead of having to wait 10 or more years.
WHY NOT?
In addition, we do need to recycle solar panels BUT this cost must be carried by the developer and there needs to be an upfront deposit for the decommissioning of any major renewable project.
REFERENCES
CEIC Data (2023)
https://www.ceicdata.com› electricity-imports-and-exports
Robinson, S. & Meindl, G. (2019), Potential for leaching of heavy metals and metalloids from crystalline silicon photovoltaic systems. 10.5027/jnrd.v9i0.02.
Peplow, M ( 2022), Solar Panels Face Recycling Challenge, ACS Cent. Sci. 2022, 8, 3, 299–302
LEARN ABOUT OUR STANCE ON WIND FARMS HERE.
Save Our Woodlands is an environmentally conscious group of volunteers dedicated to preserving threatened birds, animals and ecosystems in the woodlands of New South Wales, Australia.
Only 15% of our woodlands remain, the rest has been cleared for agriculture.
Save Our Woodlands Inc. secures and protects woodlands in NSW and pays landholders, in perpetuity, to conserve, enhance and re-establish native woodlands on THEIR land, and to manage these woodlands, so they are maintained.
BUT we need YOUR help. Together we can bring about change. Please consider donating.
People tend to think that woodlands are “just bush,” consequently, over 85% of the native woodlands in New South Wales, Australia have been replaced by agriculture.
Donate $10 per month & help protect critical habitats. By doing so YOU will prevent further species from extinction.
Our work is only possible with your support.
