NT Environment Centre pushes for $1.5bn Middle Arm reinvestment into solar ‘big battery’

The controversial Middle Arm development is under greater scrutiny, with a new environmental report suggesting how the Territory could instead invest the $1.5bn project into clean energy, expanded ports and a major housing rollout.

The report is the latest campaign against the controversial Middle Arm project which the NT Government claims is a ‘green hub’ which will create 20,000 jobs while environmentalists label it a “dangerous petrochemical precinct” right near Palmerston homes. Picture: Glenn Campbell

A $1.5bn investment into a controversial “petrochemical precinct” could be diverted into transforming the Territory’s solar grid, port infrastructure and a major housing rollout, according to a new report.

The Environment Centre of the NT launched its ‘Recharging the Territory Report’ which claimed divesting the $1.5bn Federal and Territory government’s investment into the Middle Arm project could generate better economic outcomes and 7622 jobs.

The report by Clean Economy analyst and Springmount Advisory director Tom Quinn said the $1.5bn was a “once in a generation opportunity” to fund a three-pronged economic approach: expanding existing port infrastructure at East Arm, building a “big battery” for the currently disconnected solar grid, and create a green housing stimulus package.

Modelling of the Middle Arm Development Precinct.

The report is the latest campaign against the controversial Middle Arm project which the NT government claims is a ‘green hub’ which will create 20,000 jobs while environmentalists label it a “dangerous petrochemical precinct” right near Palmerston homes.

Middle Arm is seen as the proposed fracking processing hub for the Beetaloo Basin — labelled as key to the NT’s “transition to a net-zero future” by Mining Minister Mark Monaghan despite being called an emissions “bomb” by Climate Analytics who estimate fracking the basin will emit 1.2bn tonnes of greenhouse gases over 25 years.

NT government outline of the Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct.

The ECNT report argued that instead of Middle Arm, the Territory should instead transform the existing East Arm business area into a “genuine sustainable industry hub”.

It said for $495m — a third of the total cost of Middle Arm — the NT could develop the existing East Arm port and 300ha of nearby Marine Industry Park and the Darwin Business Park.

“Due to the small population and size of Darwin, duplicating infrastructure across two locations will spread the Northern Territory’s finite workforce and resources thinly, and ultimately undermine the competitiveness of port services,” it said.

Therefore it pushed for a $378m investment into a 150 MW / 600 MWh “big battery” to allow green power to meet half of the four-hour evening peak-demand period, even after the sun went down. Picture: supplied

The report also said a long-term failure to invest in large scale storage had resulted in completed solar farms at Batchelor and Manton never being switched on, while a 25MW Katherine solar farm has been connected “but still can’t send energy to consumers due to the grid issues”.

Therefore it pushed for a $378m investment into a 150 MW / 600 MWh “big battery” to allow green power to meet half of the four-hour evening peak-demand period.

It also proposed a $116 million Territory Solar program to double the number of dwellings with solar, while a $50m storage microgrid projects could remove remote community’s reliance on diesel generators.

To meet the 100,000 new sparkies and tradies the Electrical Trades Union estimates are needed for a national clean energy transition, the report advocated for a $25m investment in Darwin, Katherine, Alice Springs and Tennant Creek training facilities and a $15m fund to reduce study costs.

But the largest job stimulus was not through green energy — which was only modelled to create 1230 jobs — but in sweeping housing investment to upgrade thousands of homes to be more “climate smart”.

Nearly 60 per cent of the reports ‘green’ jobs were in construction to create provide climate-safe upgrades for every single low-income household in the NT, fund solar and insulation, new air conditioners for all public housing, provide a $120.2 million top-up of the Remote Housing Investment Package and the expansion of remote housing.

ECNT executive director Kirsty Howey warned that the Territory was at a crisis point, warning that Darwin could become “uninhabitable” within a generation while the economy falters with increasing debt. Picture: Glenn Campbell

ECNT executive director Kirsty Howey said that the Territory was at a crisis point, warning that Darwin could become “uninhabitable” within a generation while the economy falters with increasing debt.

“(But) this report shows that the Northern Territory does not need massive fossil fuel expansion to create thousands of jobs, forge an industrial base, and lower the cost of living for so many people,” she said.

“We can recharge the Northern Territory’s economy with imagination, courage and genuine climate ambition.”

Kate Worden as the government announce a grant to allow greater access to volunteers in sport. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Environment Minister Kate Worden said the government was committed to the Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct “because it is the future of the Northern Territory”.

“It’s the future of jobs for our kids, and there is not just national interest, but there’s international interest in Middle Arm,” she said.

“We’re not just going to put that aside because a group comes up and says that they think they could do it better – we have a solid plan.”

She said the government was open to hear how training facilities could be improved, and that it was two years into an environmental assessment of Middle Arm to ensure future cumulative emissions caps were appropriate to meet emissions targets.

Originally published as NT Environment Centre pushes for $1.5bn Middle Arm reinvestment into solar ‘big battery’