February 24, 2025
Akaysha Energy hosted an information session in Kumbia on Saturday morning for local residents about its Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) at Ellesmere.
Representatives said construction of the project, which already has development approval, is due to start next year.
Akaysha received approval for a material change of use for a block of former grazing land late last year.
The BESS will cover an area of about 10ha adjacent to Oaky Creek Back Road, not far from the existing Halys Substation and other electrical infrastructure.
It will be connected to the substation via a 275kV Powerlink transmission line.
Artwork distributed by Akaysha has suggested this line would be underground, however company representatives said on Saturday that it would now probably be overhead, although the decision was up to Powerlink.
About 150 people would be employed at the site during construction, and a plan would be developed to manage traffic on nearby roads.
Many of the people at the Kumbia meeting were not happy about the project.
Pam O’Sullivan, who lives at Ellesmere, said she had only attended the meeting to register a protest.
“I’m not interested in hearing their propaganda,” she said.
Pam, who is also opposed to wind farms and solar farms, said she was concerned about the dangers of flooding, as she believed debris from the battery project could wash into her property.
She was also was afraid fires could emit toxic smoke.
Akaysha has stated previously that it intends to use Lithium Iron Phosphate cell technology at the Ellesmere BESS which it says is safer than lithium-ion technology.
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South Burnett Mayor Kathy Duff expressed frustration about the way the Ellesmere project had gained approval, saying Council had addressed the approval process for future BESS development applications.
At Council’s February meeting, Cr Ros Heit moved a resolution that South Burnett Regional Council investigate the introduction of a temporary local planning instrument to increase the level of assessment to “impact assessable” for all non-exempt Battery Energy Storage Systems and, where applicable, include the matter in the next Planning Scheme amendment package.
The motion was seconded by Mayor Duff.
Cr Heit said the advantage of having projects “impact assessable” rather than “code assessable” was that Council could consult with the local community.
“We can have the community demonstrate to us how this is going to affect them. It is very frustrating when these facilities are built and we have absolutely no power to ask the community whether they want it,” she said.
Cr Heit said there would be NIMBY comments but often there were also realistic reasons why something was not suitable “but if it doesn’t come to Council, there is nothing we can do about it”.
After community consultation, Council would have “a realistic assessment” about the value of a project to the community.
Cr Linda Little said the Ellesmere project had angered a lot of community members and she had received many phone calls.
Mayor Duff said she was upset that councillors and the community were the last to know about BESS projects.
“They can just put them wherever they want to. In my mind, they’re heavy industrial, in the middle of prime agricultural (land) or too close to a built-up area and it’s ‘as of right’,” she said.
“But at least with this, the community can have a say; Council can have a say and we actually have the opportunity to vote in the Chamber whereas before the BESS were ‘code assessable’ which meant the CEO has to just approve them because they ticked all the boxes – but the community doesn’t even need to be told about them.”
However, the meeting was told, community submissions would still have to address valid planning grounds.
Mayor Duff admitted that even if Council did reject a project, the developer could still challenge the decision in the Planning Court – which is what happened with the Kingaroy solar farm which was already “impact assessable” – but at least the community and Council would have had a say, which was currently not happening.
- Related article: Battery Project Planned For Ellesmere
Let’s all get our knickers in a knot over 10ha of “prime” disused grazing land. Crikey?