Melbourne-based developer Mint Renewables is pitching a very large solar and battery complex with what could be a very high level of difficulty: there are 116 houses, not including the landowner hosts, within 4km of the project.
The Magpie Hill solar project, a 375 megawatts (MW) and a 375 MW, eight-hour battery, is seeking federal environmental approval to sit just north of Canberra.
Mint has signed with two landowners to use 59 different lots over 735 hectares, the scoping documents show, and the start of operations is pencilled in for 2030.
Since announcing the start of community consultation in February, the project has attracted some criticism.
Nina Dillon, the Mayor of Goulburn Mulwaree Council, expressed her dismay over the project in August on Facebook, bringing up issues around fire risks and calling it an eyesore.
