Victorian Big Battery Storage Facility, 680 Ballan Road Moorabool, Victoria: Preliminary Documentation for EPBC 2020/8614 Prepared for Neoen Australia Pty Ltd 04 September 2020 Biosis offices Document information NEW SOUTH WALES Report to: Neoen Australia Pty Ltd Albury Prepared by: Daniel Gilmore and Stephen Mueck Phone: (02) 6069 9200 Email: [email protected] Biosis project No.: 33234 File name: 33234.VBB.EPBC.PD.Draft.21052020 Newcastle Phone: (02) 4911 4040 Citation: Biosis 2020. Victorian Big Battery Storage Facility, 680 Ballan Road Email: [email protected] Moorabool, Victoria: Preliminary Documentation for EPBC 2020/8614. Report for Neoen Australia. Author: Gilmore, D., & Mueck, S. Biosis Pty Ltd, Sydney Melbourne. Project no. 33234 Phone: (02) 9101 8700 Email: [email protected] Western Sydney Document control Phone: (02) 9101 8700 Email: [email protected] Version Internal reviewer Date issued Wollongong Draft version 01 IS 17/06/2020 Phone: (02) 4201 1090 Email: [email protected] Final version 01 Determined with XX/09/2020 input from DAWE Acknowledgements VICTORIA Ballarat Phone: (03) 5304 4250 Biosis acknowledges the contribution of the following people and Email: [email protected] organisations in in the production of this report: Melbourne (Head Office) • Neoen Australia: Matthew Parton Phone: (03) 8686 4800 Email: [email protected] • GHD (Melbourne): Brad George Wangaratta Biosis staff involved in this project were: Phone: (03) 5718 6900 Email: [email protected] • Sonika Kumar (mapping). Biosis Pty Ltd This document is and shall remain the property of Biosis Pty Ltd. The document may only be used for the purposes for which it was commissioned and in accordance with the Terms of the Engagement for the commission. Unauthorised use of this document in any form whatsoever is prohibited. Disclaimer: Biosis Pty Ltd has completed this assessment in accordance with the relevant federal, state and local legislation and current industry best practice. The company accepts no liability for any damages or loss incurred as a result of reliance placed upon the report content or for any purpose other than that for which it was intended. © Biosis 2020 - Leaders in Ecology and Heritage Consulting - www.biosis.com.au i Contents 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Project background .............................................................................................................................................1 1.2 MNES relevant to the proposal .........................................................................................................................1 1.2.1 Supporting documentation ...................................................................................................................1 1.2.2 Natural Temperate Grassland of the Victorian Volcanic Plain (NTGVVP) ....................................1 1.2.3 Striped Legless Lizard ..............................................................................................................................4 1.2.4 Golden Sun Moth Synemon plana .........................................................................................................5 1.2.5 Swift Parrot Lathamus discolor ...............................................................................................................5 1.2.6 Other listed species & ecological communities .................................................................................6 2. Preliminary Documentation ........................................................................................................................ 7 2.1 Description of the action ....................................................................................................................................7 2.2 Relevant impacts ..................................................................................................................................................9 2.2.1 Natural Temperate Grassland of the Victorian Volcanic Plain .......................................................9 2.2.2 Striped Legless Lizard ........................................................................................................................... 10 2.2.3 Other listed species .............................................................................................................................. 10 2.2.4 Certainty with respect to impacts on MNES .................................................................................... 10 2.3 Proposed avoidance and mitigation measures ......................................................................................... 10 2.3.1 Natural Temperate Grassland of the Victorian Volcanic Plain .................................................... 10 2.3.2 Striped Legless Lizard ........................................................................................................................... 11 2.4 Residual impacts/proposed offsets .............................................................................................................. 12 2.4.1 Natural Temperate Grassland of the Victorian Volcanic Plain offset calculation ................... 13 2.4.2 Striped Legless Lizard offset calculation .......................................................................................... 14 2.4.3 Overall offset strategy .......................................................................................................................... 15 2.4.4 Offset Management Plan .................................................................................................................... 15 2.5 Other approvals and conditions .................................................................................................................... 15 2.6 Social and economic ........................................................................................................................................ 16 2.7 Environmental record of person proposing to take the action .............................................................. 16 2.8 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................................... 17 References ................................................................................................................................................................ 18 Appendices ............................................................................................................................................................... 20 Appendix 1 Guide to scoring habitat quality for Striped Legless Lizard ............................................ 21 Appendix 2 EPBC Act Offset Calculations ................................................................................................. 29 Attachments ............................................................................................................................................................ 32 © Biosis 2020 – Leaders in Ecology and Heritage Consulting II Figures Figure 1 Location of 680 Ballan Road, Moorabool, Victoria ............................................................................. 2 Figure 2 The extent of NTGVVP and SLL habitat within the development site .............................................. 3 Figure 3 Proposed development plan for 680 Ballan Road, Moorabool ........................................................ 8 © Biosis 2020 – Leaders in Ecology and Heritage Consulting III 1. Introduction 1.1 Project background Biosis Pty Ltd was commissioned by GHD, acting on behalf of Neoen Australia Pty Ltd, to prepare Preliminary Documentation for the proposed development of Victoria’s Big Battery project at 680 Ballan Road, Moorabool, Victoria (EPBC 2020/8614). The proposed development was deemed to be a controlled action by the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (DAWE) under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) as it is likely to have a significant impact on listed threatened species and communities (section 18 and 18A of the EPBC Act). This document provides responses to the Department’s request for further information (Attachment 1). The subject site is approximately 63 kilometres south-west of Melbourne’s Central Business District and 13 kilometres north of Geelong. It surrounds the existing Moorabool Terminal Station managed by AusNet (Figure 1). The site is bounded to the north east by Anakie Road, to the south west by Ballan Road and is otherwise surrounded by agricultural land. 1.2 MNES relevant to the proposal 1.2.1 Supporting documentation Surveys and assessments were conducted by GHD and their report (GHD 2020) is referenced throughout this document. The Preliminary Documentation largely draws on the details presented in that report. With the exception of the vulnerable Striped Legless Lizard Delma impar (SLL), the assessments were conducted in a manner which complies with appropriate standards and are considered adequate for the Australian Government to assess the proposed action in relation to relevant Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES). Many sections of this report have therefore been extracted from that assessment. Survey information provided by Ecology and Heritage Partners (2018) on the distribution