Town Planning Report Bulli Creek Solar Farm Gore Highway, Bulli Creek Prepared for: Solar Choice Pty Ltd Date: Jan-14 RPS Ref: PR119938-3 rpsgroup.com.au Town Planning Report Bulli Creek Solar Farm Gore Highway, Bulli Creek Important Note Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism, or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this report, its attachments or appendices may be reproduced by any process without the written consent of RPS Australia East Pty Ltd. All enquiries should be directed to RPS Australia East Pty Ltd. We have prepared this report for the sole purposes of Solar Choice Pty Ltd (“ Client ”) for the specific purpose of making a Development Application (“ Purpose ”). This report is strictly limited to the purpose and the facts and matters stated in it and does not apply directly or indirectly and will not be used for any other application, purpose, use or matter. In preparing this report we have made certain assumptions. We have assumed that all information and documents provided to us by the Client or as a result of a specific request or enquiry were complete, accurate and up-to-date. Where we have obtained information from a government register or database, we have assumed that the information is accurate. Where an assumption has been made, we have not made any independent investigations with respect to the matters the subject of that assumption. We are not aware of any reason why any of the assumptions are incorrect. This report is presented without the assumption of a duty of care to any other person (other than the Client) (“ Third Party ”). The report may not contain sufficient information for the purposes of a Third Party or for other uses. Without the prior written consent of RPS Australia East Pty Ltd: this report may not be relied on by a Third Party; and RPS Australia East Pty Ltd will not be liable to a Third Party for any loss, damage, liability or claim arising out of or incidental to a Third Party publishing, using or relying on the facts, content, opinions or subject matter contained in this report. If a Third Party uses or relies on the facts, content, opinions or subject matter contained in this report with or without the consent of RPS Australia East Pty Ltd, RPS Australia East Pty Ltd disclaims all risk and the Third Party assumes all risk and releases and indemnifies and agrees to keep indemnified RPS Australia East Pty Ltd from any loss, damage, claim or liability arising directly or indirectly from the use of or reliance on this report. In this note, a reference to loss and damage includes past and prospective economic loss, loss of profits, damage to property, injury to any person (including death) costs and expenses incurred in taking measures to prevent, mitigate or rectify any harm, loss of opportunity, legal costs, compensation, interest and any other direct, indirect, consequential or financial or other loss. RPS Project Team Contact Information RPS Reference: PR119938-3 RPS Office: RPS Job Name: Gore Highway, Bulli Creek T: 07 4632 2511 Document Title: Bulli Creek Solar Farm W www.rpsgroup.com.au Document Type: Town Planning Report ACN: 44 140 292 762 RPS Contact: James Juhasz Revision History Version Date Purpose Author Reviewer Issue Date 0 - SPA Template v2.1 - - - 1 Jan-14 RPS Initial Draft Kathleen Hunter James Juhasz - A Jan-14 RPS Initial Draft Kathleen Hunter Brad Jones - Page ii Town Planning Report Bulli Creek Solar Farm Gore Highway, Bulli Creek Contents 1. SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................... 1 2. SITE DESCRIPTION ................................................................................................................................ 9 2.1 Site Analysis ................................................................................................................................... 9 2.2 Surrounding Land Uses ...............................................................................................................10 3. DEVELOPMENT DESCRIPTION ..........................................................................................................11 3.1 General Description......................................................................................................................11 3.2 Site Layout ...................................................................................................................................11 3.3 Development Parameters ............................................................................................................13 4. KEY PLANNING ISSUES ......................................................................................................................20 4.1 State Planning Issues...................................................................................................................20 4.2 Local Planning Issues ..................................................................................................................20 5. PLANNING ASSESSMENT ...................................................................................................................22 5.1 State Planning Requirements ......................................................................................................22 5.2 Local Planning Requirements ......................................................................................................25 6. CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................................................31 Page iii Town Planning Report Bulli Creek Solar Farm Gore Highway, Bulli Creek Figures Figure 1: Locality Plan .................................................................................................................................. 5 Figure 2: Cadastral Plan ............................................................................................................................... 6 Figure 3: Zoning Plan ................................................................................................................................... 7 Figure 4: Aerial Photograph .......................................................................................................................... 8 Figure 5 Proposed Development Area ....................................................................................................... 13 Figure 6: Indicative sketch of Battery Storage Buildings ............................................................................ 14 Figure 7: Indicative sketch of solar frame ................................................................................................... 15 Figure 8: 330kV line crossing over Gore Hwy and heading north. ............................................................. 17 Figure 9: 330kV transmission line heading north to Bulli Creek substation, joined by 132kV line from Goondiwindi approx 3km south of substation ............................................................................. 17 Figure 10: the Bulli Creek substation showing entrance of both the 330kV transmission line from the east, and the 132kV line from Goondiwindi to the right. ............................................................. 18 Figure 11: showing indicative distribution of inverter houses in a solar farm. ............................................ 18 Figure 12: Indicative image of Inverter House Dimensions. ....................................................................... 19 Appendices Appendix A IDAS Forms and Owner’s Consent Appendix B Searches Appendix C Ecological Assessment Appendix D Proposal Plans Appendix E Council’s Prelodgement Meeting Minutes Appendix F SDAP Code Responses Appendix G Code Responses Page iv 1. Summary Solar Choice Pty Ltd (‘the Applicant’) has lodged a development application that seeks approval to establish a solar farm at Bulli Creek, located approximately 35 kilometres west of Millmerran. The Toowoomba Regional Council (‘Council) subsequently issued a Not Properly Made Notice to the Applicant on 21 November, 2013. The Applicant has engaged RPS to prepare a response to the matters raised in the Not Properly Made Notice. The following town planning report and supporting material represents a complete response to the Not Properly Made Notice. To this end, it is requested that Council now proceeds to accept the development application and issue an Acknowledgement Notice. As stated above, the development application seeks development approval to establish a solar farm at Bulli Creek, located approximately 35 kilometres west of Millmerran. Particularly, the development application seeks approval for a Development Permit for Material Change of Use for Utility Installation (Solar Farm). The development application is made over land which consists of three (3) adjoining cattle grazing properties totalling 5,382.75 hectares. The land is described in the table below and depicted at Figure 1: Locality Plan and Figure 2: Cadastral Plan. Land Holding Lot and Plan Description Area (hectares) Karriba Lot 5 on DY 1025 & Lot 37 on DY 1103 1,963.19 Minnaminane Lot 4 on DY 1024 1,977.766 Balinga Lot 39 on DY 916 1,441.7938 TOTAL 5,382.7498 The Applicant proposes to establish a solar farm that will, at ultimate capacity, use solar energy to generate up to 2.5 Giga Watts of electricity that will be sold directly and/or stored for later sale into the national electricity market.