Getaway star Catriona Rowntree slams ‘secretive’ plans for renewable battery farm to be built next to her rural six-bedroom Victoria farmhouse and calls for proposal to be scrapped
Catriona Rowntree has criticised ‘secret’ plans to build a renewable energy battery farm next to her rural farm in Victoria.
The 53-year-old Getaway star has called on Geelong City Council to support her request to block the construction of the large-scale development next to her home, which she says poses a safety risk.
Proposals are currently before the State Government from AC Energy to build a 350MW/700MWh lithium battery farm at Little River, 44km south-west of Melbourne.
If the project goes ahead, it will create one of the state’s largest battery energy storage systems (BESS). The system is designed to manage electrical energy using lithium-ion batteries.
However, Catriona has now slammed the plans, claiming she was ‘taken aback’ by the proposals, which she only discovered through a report in her local newspaper.
She posted an impassioned video on Instagram in which she spoke out against the development, saying it poses a safety risk because the land is on a fire route.
The TV presenter also noted that the remote location is protected by a significant landscape layer, which aims to preserve and enhance key areas.
“Hi, I just wanted to let you know that if you’re watching ABC Stateside in Victoria just after 5pm, you’re about to hear what has caught many of us in the state of Victoria off guard,” she shared.
Catriona Rowntree has criticised ‘secretive’ plans to build a renewable battery farm next to her rural farm in Victoria
“That’s an attempt to go green. We’re losing our green!”
Catriona later appeared on the ABC and accused the state government of ‘smuggling through’ the proposals, claiming that Geelong City Council was not aware of them.
“We are in a very fire-prone area and the government has put significant landscape protection on this farm,” she said.
“This is the exact same farm where the historic fires of 1969 broke out, we have fires here all the time. Yesterday we had wind gusts of 100 kilometers through this area.
“The state government is trying to smuggle this through but the council knew nothing about it,” she added.
In 1969, a deadly forest fire swept through Little River and many other areas on the edge of You Yangs Regional Park, destroying property and killing many residents.
Catriona suggested that another area would be more suitable for the battery farm because of the risk of strong winds in the agricultural area.
She has asked for an extension of the consultation period, as the deadline is approaching in a few days, on September 7. A decision is expected by the end of this year.
The 53-year-old Getaway star has called on the council to back her call to block the large-scale development next to her home (pictured), which she said she was “baffled” by.
Catriona claimed the development poses a safety risk as the land is located on a fire corridor, while it is also protected by significant landscaping to preserve key areas
Geelong Mayor Trent Sullivan admitted the local community was completely “ignorant” of the proposals and promised to discuss the matter with the state.
“The community was left unprepared,” Sullivan said at a recent meeting, according to the Advertiser in Geelong.
‘Whether it’s a battery (or) a waste incinerator, things that have been attempted, dare I say, by the state government to smuggle, the community needs to be made aware of this. We will follow up on that.’
Catriona moved from Sydney to Victoria to live with her farmer husband, James, and has since restored his former family home, a six-bedroom Victorian farmhouse, to its former glory.
The sheep and grain estate where Catriona, James and their children live has been used over the years for films such as Ned Kelly and The Dressmaker.
If plans to build its vast site go ahead and become operational, the BESS could be connected directly to the existing 220kV grid infrastructure.
According to ACEnergy, this would allow Victoria to become more sustainable by ‘balancing supply and demand, integrating more renewable energy into the grid and reducing reliance on fossil fuels’.
Unlike many other forms of energy storage, a BESS offers much more flexibility because energy is released on demand.
The unit can also help manage the effects of power fluctuations and outages, while existing transmission lines can be used to minimize the impact of construction work.
The land for the Little River BESS was acquired in 2023 and the application is currently under assessment by the Victorian Department of Transport and Planning.
If the project is approved, ACEnergy expects construction to begin in the second quarter of 2025 and the BESS to be powered by late 2026.
Ny Breaking Australia has contacted the Victorian Government and ACEnergy for comment.
Catriona moved from Sydney to Victoria to be with her farmer husband James and has since restored his former family home, a six-bedroom Victorian sheep farm, to its former glory
The new proposal comes after the state government approved the first renewable energy project under the Allan Labor government’s new streamlined process.
Earlier this year, renewable energy projects became eligible to participate in the Development Facilitation Programme, helping to get important proposals off the ground faster.
On Thursday, Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny approved the first project under the new system, which is expected to be fully processed in just nine weeks.
Amid a major push into renewable energy, a $250 million BESS has been approved for Joel Joel in the Northern Grampians, which is 23km east of Stawell in Victoria’s Wimmera region.
According to a press release, “projects like this play a significant role in helping Victoria achieve its energy storage targets of at least 2.6 gigawatts of energy storage capacity by 2030 and at least 6.3 gigawatts by 2035.”