LOWER Mount Walker Community Action Group are continuing their strong opposition to Libra Energy’s proposed Bremer Battery Project.
“The 550 shipping-container-sized lithium Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) is planned for rural zoned land on the Bremer River floodplain,” said a spokesperson for the action group.
Members of the action group are residents from the Lower Mount Walker, Ebenezer, Mount Forbes and Calvert areas.
“We’re saying that the project has been surrounded by secrecy and misleading claims since the first community-initiated meeting in February 2024,” the spokesperson said.
“And we’re questioning who truly benefits from the project?
“Will it be Libra’s not-so-local directors, perhaps? But we suspect that the project may shortly be ‘flipped’ to a large, possibly foreign-owned company.”
The spokeswoman said residents’ greatest concerns were the ‘unknowns’.
“The unknowns include the type and safety of lithium batteries, fire risks; health, environmental, noise and lighting impacts; and the real number of long-term jobs, which we suspect will be negligible.”
The action group members are also skeptical of the promised ‘community benefit funds’.
“We’re concerned that the promises of community benefit funds are a way of winning pre-approval support in the face of overwhelming opposition, and yet they may never materialise once ownership changes.”
The action group are calling for a genuine, open ‘town hall’ style meeting.
“That type of meeting has been promised, but Libra has instead been conducting limited market pop-ups,” the spokeswoman said.
The proposed location of the BESS was first to be on a dairy farm, then it shifted to state-owned EDQ land and is now proposed for three farm blocks beside homes near Blundells Bridge at Lower Mount Walker.
“Locals argue why such an industrial-scale project is needed?” the spokesperson said.
“At 850MW, it is far larger than Swanbank or Greenbank, we believe it should not be placed on rural floodplains but instead, on industrial zoned land or already contaminated land.
“A published claim that a development application was lodged in June 2024 was later found to be false, and the project’s website time line lacks dates.
“The latest update distributed to the community is an update from June 2025.
“The action group vow to continue protecting their farming landscape, rural amenity and environmental integrity.
“We will protect the land, the people, and the environment we love.”
