New power line path released

THE route of a proposed five hundred-kilovolt power line north of Ballarat has been further refined, with the project’s proponents releasing new maps.

Known as the Western Victoria Transmission Network Project, the line is being built by AusNet Services.

It’s set to run from Bulgana near Ararat to Ballarat as a 220-kilovolt line where it’ll meet a substation north of the city before converting to a 500-kilovolt service for the run into Sydenham.

Key changes in the most updated map include the dropping of a potential section between Waubra and Learmonth, and the refining of the route through Blampied, Newlyn and Dean.

“Following early community engagement and investigations, AusNet narrowed down the area of interest to multiple corridors in February 2021,” a statement from AusNet said.

“Continued community engagement and technical investigations have continued since then. As a result, AusNet have identified a single corridor, considered to be the least constrained corridor.”

The project’s executive director Stephanie McGregor said discussions with affected landholders were ongoing.

“Nobody knows the land like the landholders themselves,” she said.

“We will work with them to ensure agriculture and other land use can continue along the line with minimal disruption.”

However, Western Victoria state upper house MP Bev McArthur criticised the timing of AusNet’s announcement, and sincerity over engaging with landholders, claiming the latest map was released to some media outlets before those directly affected were told.

“This demonstrates that AusNet is more focussed on front pages and media spin, than the people whose lives and livelihoods they are about to change,” she said.

“I have been to these meetings. I have walked the paddocks with impacted farmers. I have gone to the sensitive environmental sites and the forested areas.

“What AusNet has done today has eased few, if any, of locals’ concerns about the impact on their ability to work, and sustain industries, including tourism, along this high-wire project.”

The Western Victoria Transmission Network Project aims to bring power generated by renewable energy sources in the west of the state to the national grid, with an expectation it will handle 900 megawatts annually.

Announced just over a year ago, AusNet is currently in the process of setting a final route for the power line and location of the substation.

While many objectors to the line, including local councils, have called for it to run underground for some of all of the route, the developer has chosen to push ahead with an above ground option.

“We absolutely acknowledge and understand the uncertainty around the issue of farming under potential transmission lines,” Ms McGregor said.

“As a result of investigations, consultations and recognition that farming occurs under existing transmission lines in Victoria, we can confirm that farmers will be able to grow crops, including potatoes, within the transmission line easement.”