The Kerang Memorial Hall was a flurry of activity at Tuesday’s VNI West Information Sessions. Security guards sat at the door and minders ushered attendees to carefully laid out tables and stands to consult experts on their every concern. From landholder engagement to environmental concerns, aboriginal cultural heritage, and even local, George Warne, was there as Transmission Company Victoria’s (TCV) agricultural advisor.

Project Lead for Australian Energy Marked Operator Nichola Falcon was pleased with the community engagement.

“This is the second one we’ve had, really encouraged by the attendance and a lot of people have come just to really be able to get better information. 

“It’s been great to be able to get out in the communities and start providing a bit more information.

“There’s a very broad range of questions that are coming up. For some, they just want to understand what the project is, why it’s needed, others are more interested in what VNI West means for them and how they might be impacted by it. Others are trying to understand the timelines and process.” 

When it came to the risk of flooding, Nichola stated while it’s not great, there are engineering solutions at hand.

“We’re certainly aware of the area being prone to inundation and while it’s not great, there are things you can do in terms of engineering to minimise any impact, but that the inevitability is there is going to be some area around here, wherever we go, that is going to be prone to flooding. We want to try and avoid, where possible, and definitely minimise the route through, but it’s not insurmountable.”

It was a mix of emotions from community members, with some concerned over the massive towers lining their skyscape, the impacts to water birds, reductions in land value and even the higher Electromagnetic fields (EMF), those typically generated in the vicinity of power lines, mobile phones, mobile phone towers, broadcast towers and similar transmitters.

Others were more excited with the prospect to install large wind and solar developments across the surrounding countryside with additional connecting lines to the planned Kerang terminal station, and even the potential depreciation in land values enabling the cheaper purchase of their neighbour’s property.

Property devaluation has been one concern transmission objectors around some of Victoria’s richest farming soils have flagged to landholders in the path of the VNI West. Tom Drife-Henderson, a farmer from Glendaruel in Victoria, was shocked when proposed transmission lines on his property saw the bank reduce his property equity by more than $1 million. 

“We were in the process of buying another block of land, we’re farmers,” said Mr Drife-Henderson.

“We use our house block as equity. The house block has proposed transmission line coming straight past the house and shed.

“We were just finalising some things, probably eight weeks out from settlement and the bank just quizzed me on whether we thought we’d have power lines coming through or not.

“I said yes, we had pole locations and all already put in.

“The bank then said we will have to devalue you by over $1 million.”

Mr Drife-Henderson said his concerns raised with Ausnet went nowhere, and so turned to the Energy and Water Ombudsmen of Victorian (EWOV).

“EWOV did a full investigation, they spoke to the bank and the bank put a figure on it of $1.5 million that they basically devalued us,” said Mr Drife-Henderson. 

“Unfortunately, they’ve brought it all to light, but they are powerless to do anything.”

Communities feeling frustrated at what they describe is a lack of action over their concerns have turned to social media groups. The Piss Off Ausnet – Spud and Spa Region group has more than 5,000 members and closer to home, a AEMO – Say No to Option 5 has gained 815 members.

The conflict in the Spa and Spud region has seen a complete lockout of electrical company workers from farms under trespass laws. Will Elsworth owns an engineering business in Smeaton and said community sentiment is now one of lock out the power company, and they have done, for three years.

“When they came to the properties, they are informed by the property owner they were trespassing if they set foot on the property and the police should be called in.”

Mr Elsworth admits there were a few tense standoffs, with more than 40 farmers rallying on several occasions to keep the power companies out. 

“Some said we had to let them in under Section 93 of the electrical act.

“That didn’t hold water, and we said Section 93 won’t give you access to the property, it will only get you access if there’s an existing power line.”

Many who raise concerns over the huge transmission lines say they would open the gate if the government would go underground with the project.  

A Transgrid report stated, “The costs of underground cables are approximately four to 25 times higher than overhead lines. Direct buried cables are at the lower end of this range, while tunnel installed cables are at the upper end.”

Of the 67 recommendations made by the Bushfire Royal Commission Chairman, the Honourable Bernard Teague AO, it was Recommendation 27 that touched on the risk of electrical infrastructure. 

173 people died in the February 7, 2009, Black Saturday fires, five of the 15 fires that became the Black Saturday inferno were ‘associated with the failure of electricity assets’.”¯

Recommendation 27 detailed the replacement of powerlines in Victoria with ‘aerial bundled cable, underground cabling or other technology that delivers greatly reduced bushfire risk’. It argued this should happen within 10 years in areas most at risk and progressively from there.

The NSW Government recently launched a new inquiry into the feasibility of undergrounding the transmission infrastructure for renewable energy projects. 

The Hon Emily Suvaal MLC, Chair of the State Development Committee said, “This inquiry will allow us to hear community concerns regarding overhead transmission lines and understand the benefits and cost of putting that infrastructure underground.”

The Chair added, “The committee will also be looking at existing case studies, as well as how undergrounding might affect construction timelines and impact the environment.”

VNI West has just released its environmental constraints report, which can be found on its website. The report outlines the identifications of constraints in the area broadly defined as the lines’ path. These include aboriginal cultural heritage, flooding, land use, agriculture, ecology and visual impacts.

In using this report, a more specific path will be identified through avoiding or minimising the identified constraints and then landholder engagement will ramp up – a more specific path planned for later in the year. 

This article appeared in The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper, 6 July 2023.