Next step for Glanmire solar farm, on Bathurst's outskirts, expected next month

Elgin Energy's response to community submissions was originally meant to be released on March 31, 2023, but the company has been granted an extension of time in which to do so.

Its managing director for Australia, Tim Averill, says the aim is to "finalise and submit the responses to submissions in early September", which will be the final step before the NSW Department of Planning begins the process of assessing and then providing a recommendation on whether the 158-hectare solar farm at Glanmire should go ahead.

The Glanmire Action Group - which opposes the solar farm - lodged a 66-page reply after Elgin released its environmental impact statement (EIS) for the project last year and the action group is also planning to reply to the company's response to the community submissions.

The group's Peter Hennessy is critical of the time it has taken for Elgin to complete this latest step in the process.

"It can't take six months simply to respond to our response," he told the Western Advocate.

Mr Averill, though, told the Advocate that Elgin sought the extension in order to better address submissions.

"There were several submissions around the approach to the soil survey and analysis and with further consultation with DPE [Department of Planning and Environment], Elgin wanted to respond appropriately to the submissions around these concerns," Mr Averill said.

"As a result, we have adopted a much more intensive study, addressing concerns raised into the soil survey locations.

"The survey locations are now better distributed across the site, the type of sampling now includes pits in addition to core samples, and an increased lab analysis has been undertaken.

"The updated mapping of the Land Soil Capability (LSC) class will provide a more refined and detailed understanding of the variation in soil properties than presented in the EIS.

"The updated mapping will reflect a survey well in excess of similar studies undertaken for other large-scale solar or mining sites to which the guidelines are applied.

"Unfortunately, this is a busy period for specialist consultants and to go and carry out such detailed soil studies and lab testing takes time.

"I can confirm that we are aiming to finalise and submit the responses to submissions in early September and will communicate with stakeholders accordingly."

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The Glanmire Action Group is also critical of Bathurst Regional Council's submission to the NSW Department of Planning in regards to the project.

The group says council did not make reference to the action group's expert reports, that council showed indifference to its own regional plan and that council appears out of touch on the matter given that more than 90 per cent of public submissions to the project EIS were against the solar farm.

The action group has contacted individual councillors about council's submission on the project and what the group describes as "the strength of community feeling" against the project.

"The trouble with politicians is they want to sit on the fence," Mr Hennessy said.

"They're scared to take a view because they're scared to offend someone in the population."

He said council's submission on the project "basically said they couldn't care less".

The Advocate contacted Bathurst Regional Council about the action group's criticisms.

Council's director of environmental, planning and building services Neil Southorn said in a response to the Advocate that the consent authority "has received many submissions, including from the Glanmire Action Group and from Council, and will assess the proposal with those submissions in mind".

"The Council submission is based on a review of the proponent's Environmental Impact Statement and is not required to represent the opinions of others," he said.

"The Council submission refers to the submission from the Action Group, supporting the right of the Action Group to raise the concerns it has."

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The action group's criticisms of the project vary, but two of the main concerns are the loss of agricultural land and potential insurance problems for those who will neighbour the proposed solar farm.

On the latter, Mr Hennessy says the solar farm block "basically has a north-south frontage of about two kilometres and a depth of about 800 metres, so it's much longer facing".

"The prevailing wind is from the west in summer; summer is the time of high fire danger. Summer is the time when one typically harvests grain," he said.

He said "the neighbours harvest grain, and when the neighbours contact their insurance company and just ask a simple question, they can't get insurance".

On the insurance matter, Elgin says the Australian Insurance Council was consulted prior to the environmental impact statement exhibition and again after and that body confirmed "there is no further change to their initial statement, which was, they are not aware of any position of escalated risk focus being placed on neighbouring properties solely as a result of solar facilities being established".

The Glanmire Action Group's criticism about the loss of agricultural land echo the criticisms from the Cangoura Solar Action Group which was formed in 2020 to fight a proposed solar farm off Eleven Mile Drive.

That solar farm - proposed by the company Neoen - did not end up going ahead.

Bathurst does have a complicated relationship with its surrounding farming land, though, as a number of former properties on the city's outskirts - including the Sunbright Orchard at Kelso - have been turned into housing subdivisions over the years.

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