Goyder South Hybrid Renewable Energy Project

Are you a Traditional Owner or Aboriginal party with an interest in the Burra region?

If so, the Premier wants to hear from you about a proposal from Neoen Australia Pty Ltd regarding its proposed Goyder South Hybrid Renewable Energy Project.

Your views will help the Premier decide whether to authorise potential excavation, damage, disturbance or interference with Aboriginal heritage that may occur as a result of this proposal.

Background

The Premier of South Australia, who is responsible for the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988 (SA) (Act), has received an application for authorisations under sections 21 and 23 of the Act from Neoen Australia Pty Ltd (Applicant).

The Applicant has sought the authorisations to establish its proposed Goyder South Hybrid Renewable Energy Project – a large-scale hybrid renewable energy project some 5 km south of Burra in South Australia (Project). A map of the Application Area is available here.

Section 21 of the Act makes it an offence to excavate land to uncover any Aboriginal site, object or remains (Aboriginal heritage) without the Premier’s authorisation, while section 23 of the Act makes it an offence to damage, disturb or interfere with Aboriginal heritage without the Premier’s authorisation.

The proposed activities involve ground-disturbing works associated with:

• the construction of wind turbine generators, two solar farms, two battery storage and grid connection facilities, three substations, underground cabling and overhead transmission lines, permanent operations and maintenance compounds, temporary construction compounds, access tracks and meteorological masts
• landscaping
• decommissioning of Project components
• other ancillary works that may be required to undertake, maintain, and decommission the Project.

For further information regarding this application, refer to the Consultation Information Pack available here.

The Applicant has also prepared a Community Information Booklet, which is available here. Copies of specialised reports, and the Applicant’s Development Application Package, are available here.

Prior to considering whether to grant the authorisations, section 13 of the Act requires the Premier to consult with Traditional Owners, the State Aboriginal Heritage Committee (Committee), and other Aboriginal parties that he thinks may have an interest in the matter.

Get involved

If you are a Traditional Owner or an Aboriginal party with an interest in the Application Area, please read the Consultation Information Pack and consider the following three questions:

1. Should the authorisations be granted to the Applicant? Why or why not?
2. If granted, what conditions (if any) should be put on them?
3. Are there any other matters that the Premier should consider in this application?

If you wish to learn more about this application, or lodge a submission, please contact:

Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation
T: (08) 8226 8900
E: DPC-AAR.CIR@sa.gov.au
P: GPO Box 2343, ADELAIDE SA 5001

See the Consultation Information Pack for further details on how to lodge a verbal or written submission.

Submissions must be received by Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation (AAR) by Thursday 27 January 2022.

What are the next steps?

Unless otherwise requested, consultees submissions will be forwarded to the Applicant for comment. Once the public consultation period has closed, submissions and the Applicant’s comments about them will be forwarded to the Committee.

The Committee’s own views about the application will then be sought. AAR will collate consultee submissions, the Applicant’s responses to them, the Committee’s advice, and its own recommendations to the Premier within a single brief to assist him to make a final decision about the application.