Taromeo solar farm project opposed by local residents

Residents neighbouring a new proposed solar farm and battery storage facility in the South Burnett have been quick to reject the idea, saying it will destroy their lifestyle, land values and general safety.

Residents of Taromeo in the South Burnett are not happy about the propect of a large solar farm and battery storage facility in their backyard. Picture: Marjie Spies

Residents in the small town of Taromeo in the South Burnett have been quick to oppose a proposed solar farm and battery storage facility in their community.

Australian Solar Enterprises, a Queensland-based company, has proposed the project for a 673ha block at 341 Bowman Road, Taromeo.

The solar farm and storage facility would occupy 40 per cent of the former cattle grazing country.

Taromeo resident Marjie Spies said she strongly objected to the project, which is expected to affect about 150 properties.

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“My property would potentially become uninsurable due to the unaffordability of the third party insurance premiums, my current third party liability insurance only covers $20 million accidental damage, and the solar farm would well exceed that value,” Mrs Spies said.

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“How do they propose to legally protect the current and future adjacent landowners for the life of the project should there be a change of solar farm ownership or change of insurance company?”

The proposed site (outlined in red) at Taromeo already has Powerlink transmission lines passing through it. Picture: Australian Solar Enterprises

Residents Nigel and Kay Walker said local real estate agents had told them the value of their property would decrease if the project went ahead.

“This will affect all 55 properties immediately bordering the farm and another 100 in proximity,” Mr Walker said.

Mrs Spies said the property devaluation was not just an insurance issue.

“It's also the loss of visual amenity, noise, dust, water, nuisance value, and the fact that I am no longer living next to a rural property, but an industrial estate,” she said.

“I expected to be living a quiet, peaceful, rural lifestyle with a rural outlook, not to have major electrical infrastructure and a solar farm on my doorstep.”

The area was also part of a high potential bushfire intensity zone, Mrs Spies said.

“Even though most of the solar farm is not in a high bushfire intensity zone, some of it is classified as very high, high and medium intensity, where a fire originating from the solar panels would easily spread to those areas.”

Australian Solar Enterprises said during the construction phase, 62 trucks were expected to transport materials through Bowman Road every week, a narrow rural road where residents walk their dogs and cycle.

Mrs Spies said residents considered this an unsafe amount of heavy vehicle traffic and an added financial burden to ratepayers maintaining the road.

The South Burnett Regional Council has invited residents to continue to share their views until Friday, June 23 before making a decision.

Australian Solar Enterprises hopes to start construction in 2024, and to have the solar farm operational by 2025.