A MAJOR battery energy facility is being proposed for rural Karrabin, with developers seeking approval to build a 50 megawatt battery storage installation on land zoned for environmental protection – and in the path of a future public park.
The site, off Sherman Road at Blacksoil, near the Bremer River, falls within Ipswich’s Environmental Management Zone, where industrial development is discouraged.
However, planning firm Urbis states the Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) qualified as ‘low-impact’ and should be approved.
The proposed facility would occupy a 1.74-hectare fenced compound housing 56 large battery units, connected to Energex infrastructure via new overhead powerlines. To make room for it, the project would require vegetation clearing – including koala habitat trees.
The site is also flagged under hazard overlays: bushfire risk, flooding, landslide-prone slopes and ecological sensitivity.
Consultants for the developer have acknowledged flood isolation risks and recommend an emergency plan, but access would rely on an unsealed road that cuts through Queensland Rail land – a situation that has yet to be formally resolved.
Part of the site overlapped with a future council-planned Linear Park along the Bremer River corridor – set to be built between 2036 and 2041.
The developer said that the issue would be handled under a separate industrial masterplan but has not resolved the conflict in this application.
To build the facility, trucks and heavy machinery would need to use Sherman Road, and enters land not owned by the applicant.
A temporary bypass through neighbouring lots is proposed to avoid low-hanging powerlines.
The application is being processed as ‘code assessable’, meaning the council is limited to reviewing it against technical benchmarks.
If those boxes are ticked, approval is likely – despite the site’s environmental constraints and overlapping infrastructure plans.
Ipswich City Council held a pre-lodgement meeting earlier this year and raised concerns about bushfire, flooding, tree clearing and construction access.
The application is now before council for formal assessment.
