Muswellbrook Battery

The modification will be submitted pursuant to Section 4.55(1A) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act) and seeks to make several minor changes to the approved project to reflect the outcome of detailed design and technology selection which has occurred since planning approval for the Project was granted. The proposed modifications will include:

1. Changes to the approved layout plan to include minor upgrade and widening works to the access driveway located within the site, together with a minor adjustment to the small area of road sealing at the property access that is shown in Appendix 3 of the consent. These minor works are within the survey extent of the original application and would not result in any additional impacts to native vegetation or areas of Aboriginal heritage significance. No change to required biodiversity credit liability is required on the basis that the area impacted is devoid of native vegetation and the works are generally limited to impacts to already impacted road areas.
2. Minor changes to Appendix 6 of the consent to better reflect the final Aboriginal heritage site extent, now better understood as a result of additional investigations. As a consequence of additional investigations completed in support of geotechnical investigations, an additional item of heritage significance was identified, requiring an amendment to the extent of the identified potential archaeological deposit (PAD). Additionally, it was noted that the figure added to Appendix 6 of the consent was an earlier version of the plan, and not the final plan as per the final Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment (ACHA). It is therefore proposed to amend Appendix 6 and replace the figure to reflect the final PAD area.
3. A minor condition wording change with respect to the timing of the required fire safety study and the delivery of batteries. To enable more efficient site development and construction, a minor condition wording change with respect to the timing of the required fire safety study and the delivery of batteries is requested. This would enable site civil works to occur on site in tandem with the finalisation of the fire safety study. This minor modification would not increase fire risk at the project site as the developed design has confirmed that, due to advancements in technology, fewer (but slightly larger) battery units are required to deliver the approved battery capacity. Consequentially, the area of land needed to accommodate the batteries is expected to be slightly reduced compared to the approved footprint. As no change to the approved footprint is sought via this application, DPHI and the community can have confidence that there is sufficient capacity within the site to accommodate the battery configuration required to achieve the approved capacity.
4. Minor changes to condition B14 with respect to noise limits resulting from detailed analysis now possible due to the selection of final battery technology and a better understanding of meteorological conditions. With the adoption of current technology, it has been necessary to re-visit the modelled noise outcomes to ensure compliance can be achieved. In addition, further detailed investigations have been completed with respect to site specific meteorological conditions, which enable more accurate assumptions around potentially noise altering conditions (such as high temperatures or high winds). As a result of this more detailed analysis, the project trigger levels have been adjusted in accordance with the methodology outlined in the Noise Policy for Industry (NPfI) 2017. The updated noise modelling shows that the new technology can satisfy the adjusted project trigger levels.
5. Changes to vehicle delivery sizes (but not numbers) required due to the selected battery technology, which has changed since the planning approval was granted. The modification seeks to amend the size of the largest vehicle attending site (excluding over dimensional vehicles requiring escort) from 19 metres as approved to 25 metres. This larger vehicle satisfies the class 1 oversize and overmass exemption, does not require an escort / pilot vehicle and is not classed as high risk. There would be no change to overall vehicle numbers accessing the site in relation to the consent but some of those vehicles would be larger to enable the delivery of the preferred battery. Approximately 82 battery deliveries are required to achieve the approved project capacity, which are expected to occur at a rate of up to 6 per day, meaning these larger vehicles would be accessing the site over a maximum period of 2-4 weeks. The updated traffic report, together with a draft traffic management plan, specifies the measures to be adopted to safely manage these vehicles and ensure the ongoing efficiency and safe operation of the classified and local road networks.