Brisbane city council blocks plans for fridge-sized community batteries due to loss of green space
The Brisbane city council has stymied a federal government renewable energy scheme by denying three development applications for community batteries the size of afridge due to loss of green space.
The PowerShaper XL batteries, which range in capacity between 90kW and 180kWh, are about the size of an NBN or traffic signal box – or a fridge.
But development applications for three sites, at an old Scouts Hall in Nundah, a substation in Newmarket and the Penley Street end of Woodbine Street in the Gap, were denied by Brisbane city council. All up, the trio would cost about $2.24m.
The batteries were funded through the commonwealth's $200m communities batteries for household solar program.
Energy Queensland won federal grant funding for batteries in 12 communities, including other Brisbane suburbs. It has approval to install them in Coorparoo and Moorooka.
The civic cabinet chair for environment, parks and sustainability, Tracy Davis, a former LNP MP, said the council does not support 'plonking giant batteries in public parks'.
'These bogus claims about community batteries are just a desperate attempt for relevance from a clueless Labor candidate,' she said.
'With the election now called, the federal Labor government has been caught out failing to deliver on its own commitment about community batteries and is now trying to blame local councils.'
Brisbane's lord mayor, Adrian Schrinner, was one of the loudest backers of a plan to convert part of one the city's largest parks into a stadium for the Olympics, despite claims it would significantly reduce one of the city's biggest green spaces.
The federal energy minister, Chris Bowen, said three rejected batteries would help 'nearly 1,000 households' power their homes with locally created green energy.
In a letter to Schrinner, the federal government asked the city council to either reconsider their opposition or identify alternative sites within the same suburbs that they would support.
'The batteries will store solar energy for later use and sharing, support further solar installations in these suburbs, as well [as] contribute to lowering emissions, put downward pressure on household electricity costs and provide network benefits,' Bowen said in a letter to the mayor.
Sources have told the Guardian that no other local government body has refused a development application in Queensland and in other states councils had offered alternatives when objecting.
Rebecca Hack, the Labor candidate for Ryan – which includes the outer north-west suburb the Gap – said the council's decision flew in the face of claimed green credentials.
'The LNP lord mayor is constantly trying to tell ratepayers how much he cares for the environment,' she said. 'Well, he can start right now by putting aside his personal politics and getting these batteries approved, so they can be built as soon as possible.'
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Energy Queensland was contacted for comment.
The Queensland Conservation Council's director, David Copeman, said he would be concerned if the council had adopted a 'not in my back yard approach'.
'If there was a particular tree which was seen as a character tree or protected under council rules, then obviously you'd relocate, and that's what we'd expect from appropriate planning, but that should be something that the council and Energy Queensland can work out,' he said.
He said planning rules should take into account not just the environmental costs of a project, but its benefits – particularly if the counterfactual means using more coal for longer.
Copeman said he is 'concerned that the council is delaying the rollout of this important infrastructure'.
'Brisbane city council, which has made a lot out of its commitment to net zero … for it to backslide on rolling out renewable energy infrastructure would be very concerning.'
Davis said the federal government had known 'for months' that the council did not support the sites.
'Instead of petty political games, Labor must ensure Brisbane finally gets its fair share of federal road and transport funding and stop funnelling billions of dollars in additional investment into Sydney and Melbourne,' she said.
The PowerShaper XL is about 700 x 900 x 2,000 mm and weighs 600kg.
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