{"id":132230,"date":"2025-05-26T03:24:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T03:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/132230\/"},"modified":"2025-05-26T03:24:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T03:24:10","slug":"central-queensland-town-at-centre-of-battery-boom-pushes-for-more-input","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/132230\/","title":{"rendered":"Central Queensland town at centre of ‘battery boom’ pushes for more input"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nestled among dry rainforest at the base of a mountain range in Central Queensland, a small country town is fighting what it sees as a battle threatening to transform its rural tranquillity: a national battery boom.<\/p>\n

Five companies are planning to build or expand large-scale Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) in Bouldercombe, or nearby.<\/p>\n

Mikaela Humble lives in the town of about 1,000 people and is among a group of residents fighting to be part of the planning processes for the facilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Come to us first \u2026 the community is considered the last box to tick essentially, it’s just all around the wrong way,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

she said.<\/p>\n

“Some of these developers have been working on these projects for years \u2026 they do all their studies and then they present it to the community [at the end] \u2026 it’s about giving us a voice.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ms Humble wants battery projects built in designated industrial areas, not rural zones. (ABC Capricornia: Katrina Beavan)<\/p>\n

The companies are coming to Bouldercombe in large part thanks to a local substation, connected to the power grid.<\/p>\n

The battery systems work by storing excess generated energy, so that it can be dispatched at other times when the grid needs it.<\/p>\n

According to the Australian Energy Council’s CEO Louisa Kinnear, there is currently a “battery boom”, with demand set to increase<\/a> as the country transitions away<\/a> from ageing coal-fired power stations.<\/p>\n

“They provide very rapid and flexible responses to maintain grid stability and that becomes really important in a high renewables grid,” Ms Kinnear said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Louisa Kinnear says the country is in a “battery boom”. (Supplied: Australian Energy Council)<\/p>\n

She said combining current and committed projects, the country was looking at a guaranteed battery storage of about 8 to 10 gigawatts in the near future.<\/p>\n

However, she estimated the country would need 56 gigawatts of battery storage by 2050, though about 30\u201335 of those gigawatts may come from anticipated home battery<\/a> systems.<\/p>\n

She agreed community needed to be involved, especially in locations where multiple projects were being considered.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Last year residents campaigned against a proposed local BESS project from company ACEnergy. (ABC Capricornia: Katrina Beavan)<\/p>\n

Petition launched<\/p>\n

According to Ms Humble, key concerns with the projects were about increased road use and noise, as well as fire risk, following a blaze at a local existing<\/a> BESS in 2023.<\/p>\n

She argued the projects could be built in designated industrial areas, separate to rural zoning regions, further from the substation.<\/p>\n

\"Flames<\/p>\n

A fire broke out at the Genex site in Bouldercombe in September 2023. (Supplied: Kent Murray\u00a0)<\/p>\n

For the businesses, the closer they are to a sub-station, the cheaper they are to build and operate.<\/p>\n

Ms Humble said the community had petitioned the Rockhampton Regional Council to request a Temporary Local Planning Instrument (TLPI) from the state’s Minister for Planning Jarrod Bleijie, so he could intervene on projects if needed.<\/p>\n

Last year the council did not approve a development application put forward by ACEnergy for a BESS in Bouldercombe on the grounds it went against the rural zone code, as well as concerns about end-of-life plans and bushfire management.<\/p>\n

More than 300 public submissions were received on the project, almost all against it.<\/p>\n

The company is going through court to appeal the decision and said it was also participating in mediation with the council and community representatives.<\/p>\n

Planned projects<\/p>\n

In addition to the ACEnergy proposal, companies Potentia and Silo Energy have also lodged development applications through the council for Bouldercombe and Gracemere, respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both said they would work with the community to address any concerns.<\/p>\n

Company Genex has a BESS connected to the local substation, but its original development approval included a stage-two expansion, with construction expected to start in 2027 at the earliest.<\/p>\n

Genex said it too would engage with the community on the expansion and had put up sound-absorbing “sonic curtains” around the current batteries in a bid to reduce noise.<\/p>\n

It had also installed lighting deflectors and tree screening.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The site was disconnected from the grid for a period after the fire. (ABC News: Jasmine Hines)<\/p>\n

Australian Renewable Energy Services (ARES) plans to lodge its development application for a Bouldercombe BESS next year.<\/p>\n

Managing director Sigi Psutka-Jones said the company was consulting neighbours, and would hold public community consultation sessions this year.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, despite most of the projects only at the proposal stage, Bouldercombe residents say they are already feeling an impact.<\/p>\n

“[These projects] really do fracture community groups and friendships,” Ms Humble said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nestled among dry rainforest at the base of a mountain range in Central Queensland, a small country town…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3843],"tags":[11078,58256,41270,58255,47292,1312,728,58254,58253,5442,70,1243,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-132230","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-batteries","9":"tag-battery-boom","10":"tag-battery-storage","11":"tag-bouldercombe","12":"tag-central-queensland","13":"tag-electricity","14":"tag-environment","15":"tag-power-bills","16":"tag-renewable","17":"tag-renewable-energy","18":"tag-science","19":"tag-solar","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114571999360229322","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}