Local Input Sought On Pleystowe And Capricorn Battery Storage Plans

Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie has issued proposed call-in notices for two Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) projects in the region, for the Capricorn BESS at Bouldercombe and the Pleystowe BESS at Pleystowe.

The move follows appeals lodged in the Planning and Environment Court by project proponents Potentia Energy and Trinasolar, after both Mackay and Rockhampton councils deferred the developments last year.

Those deferrals occurred just days before changes to the approval process for BESS projects came into effect. As a result, the companies were not required to resubmit their development applications to the State Assessment and Referral Agency under the updated rules.

Mackay Regional Council had earlier formally requested the Deputy Premier call in the Pleystowe BESS project, after the development was presented to council in November.

Member for Mirani, Glen Kelly MP, had written to the Deputy Premier requesting that both of these projects be called in to be properly assessed.

“The impacted communities had asked for these projects to be called in over concerns to how they would impact their quality of life if approved,” Mr Kelly said.

“Councils were restricted by planning schemes that had been written before BESS projects were being built, and weren’t able to properly consider these sorts of developments, so even if a community didn’t want it, there wasn’t a lot that councils could do.

“These call ins will give communities a chance to have their say, to be able to make their case as to why these projects should not be built so close to houses, and how this would impact the liveability of these areas, especially with other BESS projects going in right across the road for both of these.

“Neither of these developers properly consulted with the community, with those closest to the impacted projects not even being kept up to date as to what was going on, so even if they do get the go ahead, they’ve got a lot of work to do to actually build the social license in these communities.

“It’s now up to both the communities surrounding Bouldercombe and Pleystowe to have their say and make their submissions on whether or not the Deputy Premier should call these projects in, and if they need any help making a submission they can give my office a call and they’ll be more than happy to assist.”

Submissions for both Capricorn BESS and Pleystowe BESS close at 5PM on Thursday, the 5th of February 2026 and can be made to:

Deputy Premier
Minister for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning
Minister for Industrial Relations
c/- Director, Improvement and Assessment Division
Planning Group
Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning

Email: ministerial.callin@dsdip.qld.gov.au
Post: PO Box 15009, CITY EAST QLD 4002

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Member for Mirani, Glen Kelly MP at Plystowe BEES site. Photo supplied

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