A KING Valley CFA captain has called for additional consultation on how the local brigade would proceed in the event of a fire at a proposed 1400 acre solar farm at Meadow Creek.
The $750m development is forecast to host up to 330MW of energy and power as many as 110,000 homes, as part of an increasing focus on renewables in North East Victoria.
However, as community members continue to raise questions around how the project could operate on bushfire-prone land in close proximity to major water courses at Hurdle Creek and the King River, Bobinawarrah CFA captain Shane Wilson has called for further clarification on how to proceed in the event of a fire at the premises.
The 40-year CFA veteran said the local brigade “was flying by the seat of (their) pants” without clear instruction and training around how to manage the site, which borders the existing Bobinawarrah CFA shed and town hall.
“There’s been nothing – I’ve spoken to the local CFA blokes but they’ve told me there are no regulations they can go out and say to the people, because there’s no government regulation – which seems like putting the cart before the horse,” he said.
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“The big concern is… if this lithium battery gets on fire, then water won’t put it out, and we’re talking about a big battery of (250MW), or a lot of batteries to get to that capacity, and that’s the biggest worry as far as we’re concerned, apart from not liking the idea of having a solar farm next door to us.
“The fires are the biggest concern for the neighbourhood – we’re going to have 1400 (acres of) panels, and who knows what sort of toxic smoke is going to come out of them if they do get on fire.”
A CFA spokesperson said the fire authority was constantly assessing changing environments and circumstances, and said it had recently introduced a new district operating procedure (DOP) for responding to solar farm fires.
“In the North East specifically, the DOP was initially motivated by the presence of the Winton and Glenrowan solar farms, but it is also intended to inform response to the growing range of these developments set in rural landscapes,” the spokesperson said.
“CFA also works closely with the project teams for solar famrs in the design and planning phase which helps ensure fire risk is reduced at these sites.
“The firefighting approach is varied depending on the incident but suppression tactics can involve dry powder, CO2 extinguishers and fog streams – if the fire has spread to grass then firefighters can extinguish with water.
“The firefighters’ first priority is to rescue anyone in immediate danger and protect other exposures such as infrastructure and neighbouring property.”
Northern Victoria MP Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell recently raised concerns in parliament about carcinogens such as cadmium telluride and gallium arsenide, raw lead and phosphorous being emitted from burning or melting solar cells, and the impacts these toxins could have on emergency responders and the surrounding environment.
Mr Wilson said recent conversations with other members of the Moyhu Group of CFA brigades had indicated firefighters would be expected to let the solar farm burn and wait for the fire to come to them before they could act.
“If we’re talking about solar panels on a house, they tell you don’t do this or don’t do that and be careful if there’s still power live and all of that, but we’re talking about 20 or 30 panels and you’ve got a chance of sorting out what’s happening,” he said.
“But when you’re talking about – I don’t know how many panels are going to be there – but 1400 acres, obviously it’d be in zones, but you wouldn’t go near it, that’s how I feel.
“The big thing with solar panels which you’ve got to remember is when the power drops out, the solar panels are still live, so the power is turned off at the mains but there’s still solar feeding into that system – it’s a bit of an unknown because we’ve never been in that situation before.
“The feeling was that if it’s a solar farm that gets on fire, you don’t go near it, you just stand outside and wait until it gets to you, that’s the only thing the CFA can commit to, and we did discuss the battery (at a recent group meeting), and if it gets on fire, you stand back and make sure you don’t get in the toxic smoke, because water won’t put it out.
“When you live in the country, there’s a lot of grass around and if a solar farm gets on fire, well then you’ve got a big problem haven’t you.”
