Genex Power approved for 800-person work camp in Millmerran to facilitate Bulli Creek solar farm construction

A huge work camp capable of holding 800 people has been approved on the edge of the small town to pave the way for construction on an enormous solar farm project. But the project comes with incentives for locals:

A small town in the Toowoomba region will see its population temporarily increase by 50 per cent in the coming years after the approval of an 800-person work camp to cater for the construction of a massive solar farm.

Genex Power has been given the green light by Toowoomba Regional Council to build the new temporary workers accommodation on a 27ha parcel along Millmerran-Cecil Plains Rd at Millmerran, just outside the main township.

The facility paves the way for construction to start on the 775MW Bulli Creek solar farm, which was approved 10 years ago.

While the project is expected to impact the town in a variety of ways, the proponent has pledged to splash cash on the community, including the promise of energy rebates for households worth as much as $1200 across the life of Bulli Creek.

3D rendering of proposed Bulli Creek Solar Farm near Millmerran by company Solar Choice. Photo Contributed

In the assessment report presented to councillors at last week’s special meeting, planning officer Jayden Forbes-Mitchell said the project next door to the Millmerran aerodrome will typically have close to 400 workers staying for most of the life of construction.

“However, occupancy is typically expected to be around 400 persons. So the development site is at the periphery of Millmerran on a rural zoned lot, approximately 2km northeast of the town centre,” he said.

“It adjoins the Millmerran aerodrome to the west and showgrounds to the south and is near to industrial zoned land to the west and also residential zoned to the southwest.”

Given its position outside the region’s priority infrastructure area, Mr Forbes-Mitchell said Genex had signed an infrastructure agreement to pay for all necessary upgrades council would need to make to trunk infrastructure – including Millmerran’s water treatment plant.

Aerial shots of the 800-person work camp approved for a parcel along Millmerran-Cecil Plains Road at Millmerran.

“The infrastructure agreement is structured in such a way that it outlines the infrastructure works, does not impose a monetary amount on those works and requires essentially that these works are undertaken by council at no cost to council,” he said.

Much of the discussion focused around the perceived social impacts of adding as many as 800 temporary workers to a town with a population of 1500.

While the council introduced a range of planning conditions to offset the impacts to residents, Genex also completed a social impact assessment that outlined a range of mitigation areas.

These included direct energy rebates for households across Bulli Creek’s four stages, $400,000 for the redevelopment of civic green space Domville Place, a new solar system at the Millmerran Golf Club, $400,000 towards Millmerran State School and pledges to maximise local spend.

Aerial shots of the 800-person work camp approved for a parcel along Millmerran-Cecil Plains Road at Millmerran.

“However, such commitments are not able to be conditioned by council,” Mr Forbes-Mitchell said, referring to the council’s accepted assessment scope.

“Other matters considered in the report, including trafficking carparking, flooding, landscaping buffers and the operation of the aerodrome, have been assessed and are detailed in the report. These matters are considered to be satisfactory.”

Speaking for the proposal’s sole submitter, Doug Hall Poultry’s Adam Birch, town planner James Juhasz asked for the councillors to defer their decision by arguing Genex’s promises lacked clarity.

“We’d like to do that within the context that we’re not advocating for the outright refusal of this development application, we think that done well, energy and resource projects can provide lasting and positive legacy impacts for rural communities like Millmerran,” he said.

“But in its current form, the Genex proposal lacks, in our view, clarity in relation to a number of the mitigation measures or promises that have been put forward to the Millmerran community.”

The work camp was approved without debate.

Originally published as Genex Power approved for 800-person work camp in Millmerran to facilitate Bulli Creek solar farm construction