Professor Ivan Kennedy (with walking stick) and Rafe Champion (beige coat) flanked by Wagga farmers at the Kooringal Hotel. Photo: Supplied.
Wagga farmers have vowed to continue to raise concerns about renewable energy projects in the Riverina, after attending a presentation that warned about the risks of silver from solar panels ‘contaminating’ agricultural land.
Professor Ivan Kennedy, a former agricultural scientist and University of Sydney lecturer, and researcher Rafe Champion outlined their concerns and critique of solar farms at a gathering at the Kooringal Hotel last week.
The event was organised by Riverina Farming First, a group of property owners who have protested in Wagga about the development of a 100 megawatt solar farm in Bomen and a battery energy storage system (BESS) and solar farm to be built at Burkes Creek Road near The Rock.
“If a solar farm is 100 megawatts, it’ll contain several tonnes of silver, which is a toxic heavy metal,” Professor Kennedy said.
“If one per cent of that silver ends up in the soil through leaching or through large hailstorms, that will mean the soil will never be able to be rehabilitated for agricultural purposes … it can lead to serious ‘forever’ contamination of soil, preventing plant growth,” he said.
Mr Champion and Professor Kennedy have been touring rural NSW and Victoria. Photo: Supplied.
Professor Kennedy said authorities were pushing through with solar and wind turbine projects without properly assessing risks or downsides.
“They should be doing risk assessments on what will happen if there’s a major hailstorm that shatters the panels and makes the release of the silver much more likely and how long it will take to repair the material,” he said.
“People are installing these things as if there’s no risk at all. There’s been no research at all. I’m calling for it to be done as soon as possible.”
A spokeswoman for energy company Sparks Renewable, who is developing the Bomen Solar Farm, refuted the claims that silver from solar panels threatens agricultural land.
“Silver is chemically stable and, once locked within the laminate, cannot be washed out by rainwater or abraded into the ground under normal operating conditions,” she said.
She said that research funded by the NSW Environment Protection Agency has shown that the environmental risk from metal leaching at operational solar farms is negligible.
“Finally, characterising silver as a ‘forever chemical’ is misleading. Silver is a naturally occurring metal. The term ‘forever chemicals’ refers to PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), a class of synthetic compounds whose carbon–fluorine bonds make them environmentally persistent and problematic.”
Nevertheless, many in attendance at the Kooringal Hotel were impressed by the presentation and felt it raised issues that had not been properly explained or addressed by authorities.
“It was an amazing night, both speakers were so knowledgeable. They were able to show the other side of the story of so-called green cheap energy projects,” retired wheat farmer Annette Wheaton said.
Ms Wheaton said the NSW Farmers Wagga branch sponsored the event. She said she invited Wagga and Junee councils, but the only councillor to attend was Junee’s Cr Ingrid Eydling.
Farmers have also raised concerns about the lack of consultation and information they’ve received from Green Gold Energy, which is developing The Rock solar farm.
Region contacted Green Gold Energy for comment, but it did not respond.
