NEARLY a year after the plans were first announced, City of Ballarat council has decided on an official position regarding the Western Victoria Transmission Network Project.<\/p>\n
At the Wednesday, 26 May regular meeting, councillors moved to feedback to into the project\u2019s environmental effects statement process and push for an underground solution for the plan.<\/p>\n
Cr Mark Harris said the actions of the project\u2019s key backer, AusNet Services, were \u201cappalling\u201d and council needed to hold the involved entities to account.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you look at AusNet and its approach, it really defies even the most basic consultation dynamics and genuinely talking to communities and trying to get the best outcomes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think of the agricultural land that we\u2019re losing and what it\u2019s doing to those communities, I think we\u2019ve got to sheet home the blame sensibly\u2026 to governments and the authorities that are doing this and trampling on people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Announced in late June last year, the 190-kilometre-long Western Victoria Transmission Network Project is set to run from Bulgana north-east of Ararat to Sydenham in Melbourne\u2019s west as a way of getting electricity from the region\u2019s growing number of windfarms to the national grid.<\/p>\n
The project would see a 220-kilovolt line from Bulgana connect with a substation somewhere north of Ballarat before becoming a 500-kilovolt double circuit line for the 75-kilometre stretch to Sydenham.<\/p>\n
Mayor Cr Daniel Molony said while council supports a renewable energy network, the project\u2019s builders could\u2019ve addressed the public\u2019s concerns sooner.<\/p>\n
\u201c[We need to] take this motion as our starting point and I believe we need to quickly\u2026 figure out to what degree we\u2019ll fund and resource our advocacy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, council agreed to advocate the project\u2019s environment effects statement to \u201cproperly consider and use underground methods of power transmission wherever possible\u201d, and for the route \u201cto use existing road, rail and electricity easements wherever\u201d it can.<\/p>\n
Originally the plan identified a wide swath of land the power line could take, stretching from the north of the Ballarat local government area in places like Invermay and Miners Rest, up to Smeaton in Hepburn Shire.<\/p>\n
In late February this year, the potential path for the power line was in part narrowed to two main routes with crossovers.<\/p>\n
One option would see the line enter the Ballarat municipal area at Waubra before running north of Learmonth and then heading north-east to connect to a pathway through Allendale and Kingston, before heading south at Balmpid.<\/p>\n
For there it would run through Newlyn and Dean and eventually head deeper into Moorabool Shire, where that council has been advocating for an underground option since August 2020.<\/p>\n
During the recent City of Ballarat council meeting, potentially affected farmers said a \u201ccompletely backwards\u201d economic cost-benefit test conducted by the Australian Energy Market Operator in 2017 didn\u2019t take into account the costs the project would have on the community.<\/p>\n
Chairman of the Ballarat Potato Growers\u2019 Group Chris Stephens said the proposed transmission corridors for the project would mean the end of the region\u2019s thriving farms.<\/p>\n
\u201cRestrictions around the transmission line will include no irrigation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith no irrigation, there\u2019s no potatoes. And potatoes are not the only industry that farmers in this area use irrigation for.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf a transmission line with an easement runs through a paddock and the most efficient and modern technology is large irrigators\u2026 that span hundreds of metres long, well it pretty much prevents them from covering the whole paddock and so then that takes that paddock out of production.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the district\u2019s seed and commercial potato production estimated to have a farm gate value of around $50 million, Mr Stephens said the proposed power line project, \u201cMakes it very hard to be efficient and compete.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEARLY a year after the plans were first announced, City of Ballarat council has decided on an official position regarding the Western Victoria Transmission Network Project. At the Wednesday, 26 May regular meeting, councillors moved to feedback to into the project\u2019s environmental effects statement process and push for an underground solution for the plan. Cr […]<\/p>\n