Energy

Jacinta O'Sullivan. Wednesday, August 30, Transmission Company Victoria ran into approximately 30 farmers and local supporters as they continue to stealthily door knock landowners in the area of the VNI West. Several pensioners, isolated and absent landowners have been targeted by the state appointed company Transmission Company Victoria in an attempt to blindside locals who will live with the 80-metre transmission lines in their local community.  

The Western Australia-Indonesia Energy Forum held in Jakarta is a timely opportunity for both regions to collaborate and support future energy transition. The forum also offers a chance for WA energy delegates and Indonesian stakeholders to discuss each market's capabilities in new and renewable energies and critical minerals.

With the rest of the world transitioning to sustainable aviation fuels to meet their own net zero goals, how can Australia develop its own successful sustainable aviation fuel industry? Aviation is one of the most challenging industries to decarbonise, contributing 2.5% of the world’s total carbon.

NSW Farmers has accused the state government of ignoring the concerns of regional communities, with the Premier reportedly vowing to build enormous overhead powerlines across the state. Media reports on Thursday revealed the Premier told a Business Sydney event that overhead powerlines were the only option...

The State Government has recommended South Australia not be included in the Commonwealth’s proposed offshore wind farm zone that runs from Warrnambool in Victoria to Port MacDonnell … State Government has expressed concerns about the potential impact construction of an offshore windfarm in that area could have on South Australia’s southern fisheries and marine environment.

Work towards establishing a renewable energy industrial precinct in Barcaldine is powering ahead, with discussions under way with several interested companies ... Acting Premier Steven Miles met with leading economist, Professor Ross Garnaut to discuss the BREZ ahead of today’s Economic Thought Leadership Forum on decarbonising supply chains and growing new industries in Queensland.

Once upon a time, not that long ago, in places not that far away, the Australian Energy Market Operator, AEMO, thought it could devise a “renewable” energy and transmission scheme to outsmart the locals ... Locals along the lines have fought against the plans ...  

The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) is dismayed by the recent actions of transmission network operator AusNet Services after its workers entered farm properties along the Ballarat to Bendigo transmission line, without any prior contact or seeking permission from landowners.  

Farmers have rallied against reckless renewables outside Queensland Parliament House, urging Labor to rethink its plans to destroy prime agricultural land and pristine rainforest and animal habitat throughout Queensland ... Federal Leader of The Nationals David Littleproud said Labor’s reckless race to achieve 82 per cent renewables by 2030 needed a Senate Inquiry.

Here is a summary of the Kyogle Council meeting on Monday, August 14. Councillor Danielle Mulholland brought up the issues around the Bonalbo Multi Purpose Service … The monthly financial report elicited a discussion about how and where council invests its money.

Transmission Company Victoria (TCV) has refined the 5km to 50km VNI West area of interest into a draft corridor for the VNI West project ... Each landholder will be appointed a landholder liaison, who will be their key contact and able to help answer questions on important issues...

Farmers rolled into Melbourne on Tuesday on tractors, prime movers and utes, urging Labor to rethink its plans to destroy prime agricultural land throughout Victoria. The farmers, from all different parts of the state, are warning that our food and fibre production is at risk, with thousands of kilometres of prime land set to be ripped up and replaced for wind turbines, towers and transmission lines.

Melbourne’s Spring Street had a break from monotony as cars and buses were replaced with tractors, trucks and utes with banners as hundreds protested the planned Victoria-NSW Interconnector West project. An estimated 45 tractors, 10 prime movers and about 20 utilities brought commuters to a standstill as part of a ‘Stop the Towers’ rally...

Farmers have rolled into Melbourne on tractors, prime movers and utes, urging Labor to rethink its plans to destroy prime agricultural land throughout Victoria ... our food and fibre production is at risk, with thousands of kilometres of prime land set to be ripped up and replaced for wind turbines, towers and transmission lines.

According to the most recent national inventory conducted in 2021, Australia has 13,287 cubic metres of low-level radioactive waste, which by volume is more than five standard Olympic swimming pools ... The site of Australia’s only nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights can safely store waste on site for some time, but we must ensure this waste has an appropriate disposal pathway.  

Victorian farmers will descend on Parliament House in Melbourne next Tuesday 15 August for the ‘Stop the Towers’ rally, in response to the proposed VNI West and Western Renewables Link transmission projects.

The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) has extended the timeframe for making a decision on the  dispute raised by Moorabool and Central Highlands Power Alliance Inc. (MCHPA) in relation to AEMO Victoria Planning (AVP) and TransGrid’s Joint Victoria NSW Interconnector West (VNI-West) regulatory investment test for transmission (RIT-T).

On Tuesday, August 15, the Regional Victoria Power Alliance of farmers, their rural, regional, and suburban neighbours, retail and tourism business owners, and many other community members will be holding their "Stop the Towers" Rally in Melbourne, on the steps of Parliament and in Spring Street itself ... "Stop the Towers" spokesperson Glenden Watts, "the naked farmer" from Yeungroon, says that he and everyone else in the western and northwestern regions only learnt earlier this year that they were in an "area of interest" for VNI West.

NSW Farmers Energy Transition spokesman Reg Kidd says upgrading existing powerlines would short-circuit community pain over transmission projects. A proposal from the Victoria Energy Policy Centre to use existing powerline easements to house 80-metre-high pylons and high voltage powerlines was worth investigating for NSW as well, Mr Kidd said.

"A damning new report has laid bare the cost blowout and waste of the Western Victoria energy transmission project, threatening prime Mallee farmland," Member for Mallee, Anne Webster says. The Victoria Energy Policy Centre’s (VEPC) "No Longer Lost In Transmission" report highlights the VNI West) costs are understated by the AEMO and already reliant on outdated data.

The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) has launched a petition to the Victorian Parliament calling for the VNI West and Western Renewables Link transmission projects to be stopped. VFF President Emma Germano said the petition seeks to make the state’s political leaders take notice of decisions that are impacting Victorian farmers and their communities.