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Nyngan Solar Plant

Environment

Nyngan Solar Panels

Environmental management plans

First Solar and Consolidated Power Projects (CPP) prepared a Construction Environmental Management Plan in consultation with the Bogan Shire Council and in accordance with the Guideline for the Preparation of Environmental Management Plans (Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources, 2004).

The plans – which were approved by the Director-General and implemented during construction – included:

The Operational Environmental Management Plan (OEMP) for the Nyngan Solar Plant was also prepared and implemented in accordance with the same guidelines. The OEMP is incorporated into the EHS Manual. The plan was approved by the Director-General and is available below:

Environmental assessment

AGL submitted a Scoping Study in June 2012 to the NSW Department of Planning & Infrastructure (DoPI). The project was assessed under the State Significant Development (SSD) guidelines.

AGL received Environmental Assessment Requirements (also known as DGRs) from DoPI in late July 2012 and, based on these requirements, prepared an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the project. It was submitted to DoPI for adequacy review in late October 2012.

AGL received comments back from agency stakeholders in December 2012, and submitted a revised EIS in February 2013. This was placed on public exhibition from 14 March to 15 April 2013 – nine submissions were received. AGL duly prepared a Submissions Report, with the report submitted to DoPI in June 2013.

DoPI referred the project to the Planning Assessment Commission (PAC) for final determination and the project was approved on 15 July 2013. As part of the project approval, PAC specified that AGL must:

  • prevent, minimise and/or offset adverse environmental impacts
  • comply with standards and environmental performance measures for the project
  • establish monitoring programs and provide regular reporting
  • provide for ongoing environmental management of the project.
     


AGL also submitted a referral under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act to the Federal Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (DSEWPAC). DSEWPAC determined that the proposed action was not a controlled action – so the project did not require further assessment and approval.

All of the reports mentioned above are available in the 'Documents' tab. For more information visit: