Bookaar Solar Farm battle heats up as farmers rally against plan

The Bookaar Solar Farm includes plans for 246 megawatt hours of battery energy storage and will be located on close to 600 hectares, larger than the footprint of the closest major town, Camperdown.

A handful of farmers who neighbour the proposed Meningoort Road site say the area regularly floods and, should the project go ahead, firefighters could be hampered with restricted access and equipment in the event of a grass fire.

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A previous application for the project was refused by Corangamite Shire Council in 2019 and that decision was upheld by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

The proponent of the solar farm, Bookaar Renewables Pty Ltd, has since adjusted its planning application and reapplied.

In the meantime, the responsible authority which approves renewable energy projects changed, meaning the decision is now in the hands of Planning Minister Richard Wynne.

Mr Wynne's decision is expected in June, but farmer Andrew Duynhoven fears if it goes ahead, the project could have dire consequences for farms in the area.

"The fire risk here is great because we live in a high rainfall, very fertile area whereas other solar farms throughout the state are located in areas were there is much less fuel, rain and growth," he said.

"As a CFA firefighter, we only have guidelines on how to deal with solar farm fires but as volunteers we are not trained in the area and don't have standard operating procedures and that is a big worry for us."

Another area of concern for Mr Duynhoven is the risk of flooding on his and nearby properties as solar panels could act like raised beds and shed the water more quickly.

"We have a main drain running north-south and [the applicant] has not taken into account how that drain will be cleaned or maintained," he said.

"If the drain is fenced off and not maintained or grazed, water could spill into my drainage system and I won't have the capacity to deal with the extra load."

Depending on seasons, Mr Duynhoven pumps up to 15 megalitres of water off his property and into a local drainage system each day.

He said a 25-millimetre rainfall event could take him up to a week to disperse the water and if the north-south drain which borders the proposed solar farm is not maintained, it could create excess water flows.

"If I cannot get the water off my farm within two weeks, the pasture will become toxic and the rain could wipe out more than a quarter of my property and I can't afford that," he said.

Corangamite Shire Council mayor Ruth Gstrein said council had ongoing concerns with the proposal and had made a submission to Mr Wynne detailing concerns relating to a lack of community consultation, drainage, loss of agricultural land and fire risk.

Ms Gstrein said one of council's main concerns was the owners of the solar farm had indicated that in an event of a day of total fire ban, no staff would be on site.

"In the case of outbreak of a fire then it will be up to local CFA volunteers to deal with it," she said.

"Council feels that this situation is untenable."

Bookaar Renewables Pty Ltd project manager Richard Seymour said detailed flood and bushfire assessments had been used to develop the revised application.

"The revised application has been designed in response to issues raised in a 2019 VCAT decision," Mr Seymour said.

"Specifically, detailed flood and bushfire assessments have been used to inform the solar farm design.

"This is a positive proposal for the region that will deliver an estimated 460 gigawatt hours of clean energy each year."

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