Landowners in regional Victoria feel they have not been adequately consulted or informed about plans to construct massive electricity transmission lines on their land and around their communities.
Key points:
- A farmer at Bulgana says the payments won’t amount to much for him
- He is concerned about the risks posed by having major infrastructure so close
- The state government says the transmission lines are crucial to supply renewable and cheap energy to the state
The state government announced today that it will pay landholders who host the electricity transmission infrastructure $8,000 per kilometre per year for 25 years.
But Larry Mclean, a farmer who owns land at Bulgana, north of Ararat, told ABC Ballarat that the planning process had been “shambolic” and that the new payments would not amount to much for him because the powerlines only extended a few hundred metres across his property.
“They put a wind farm here and a wind farm here and then they think about where they’re going to join them up to,” he said.
“It doesn’t seem to be very well planned.
“The companies are all owned by different people and there seems to be not much consultation with anybody that’s involved in the area.”
Safety concerns
The government’s scheme is part of an initiative to construct hundreds of kilometres of large scale, high capacity powerlines to send renewable energy generated in regional areas – predominantly in the state’s west and north-west – into the grid and to the areas where demand is highest.
Mr Mclean’s property is close to the newly confirmed site of a terminal station, which will be more powerful than was initially planned.
He said he was worried about the prospect of a large station so nearby.
“We’ve got batteries there now that are fire prone, so the more gear they get there the more chance there is of accidents and fire in the future,” he said.
“The roads are only little rural gravel roads — they’re not very suitable for heavy traffic when they’re doing the construction, and they also want to smash up all the trees in the area, so they get rid of a lot of vegetation … when they’re doing the construction stage.”
‘Equitable legacy’
The state government’s first $8,000 payments will go to landholders who host transmission lines along the Victoria to New South Wales Interconnector West and Western Renewables Link transmission corridors.
Farmers have been campaigning against the Western Renewables Link for years, which proposes 500-kilovolt high-voltage transmission lines up to 85 metres high.
Landowners impacted by the Marinus Link project between Victoria and Tasmania and transmission links connecting the state’s Renewable Energy Zones and future offshore wind projects will also be eligible.
In a statement, Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources Lily D’Ambrosio said the payments acknowledged the important role landholders played in hosting energy infrastructure.
“We want to get the process for planning and approving new infrastructure right so we can make sure the renewables revolution is a shared, equitable legacy for all Victorians,” she said.