Powerline fight could head to court

By Lachlan Ellis

A community battle against the controversial Western Renewables Link (WRL) has entered the legal realm, as a community group alleges “fundamental flaws” in the planning process.

The Moorabool and Central Highlands Power Alliance (MCHPA) formally commenced legal actions relating to the WRL on August 26, releasing the first details on its legal case in the Stop AusNet’s Towers October newsletter.

In the newsletter, MCHPA Chairperson Emma Muir argues there were several flaws in the Western Victorian Regulatory Investment Test for Transmission (West Vic RIT-T) which was conducted by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO).

This process chose ‘Option C2’ as the preferred option for the WRL, which includes a line of 500 kV overhead powerlines from Sydenham to North Ballarat, and a line of 220 kV powerlines from North Ballarat to Bulgana.

“On 26 August 2022, the Alliance, through its legal advisers Thomson Geer, wrote to the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of AEMO about the process and outcome of the West Vic RIT-T. In its letter the Alliance identifies and discusses a series of significant material changes which have occurred since the West Vic RIT-T was completed in 2019,” Ms Muir wrote.

“These changes include the present once-in-a-century renewables transition in the energy market. The Alliance believes these changes fundamentally disrupt C2 still being the preferred option and the basis for the entire proposed WRL.”

The material changes identified by the MCHPA’s legal advisers include, but are not limited to, “between a $250 million and $500 million rise in construction costs since AEMO’s $473 million estimate in 2019”, “massive benefits for the project were calculated by AEMO on the now completely discredited assumption that Victoria would be burning brown coal for electricity until 2075”, and “AEMO’s accounting tricks that minimised costs and double-counted benefits from the related VNI West interconnector link project between Victoria and NSW meaning that up to $500 million of real costs were completely ignored by the West Vic RIT-T’s cost benefit analysis”.

The letter to AEMO, the MCHPA says, is “the first step of legal action being undertaken by the Alliance to compel AEMO to stop the WRL in its current form and go back to the drawing board”.

“If AEMO sees reason and makes that happen, the Alliance sees this as an important opportunity for all our communities to finally have a say in finding an alternative solution that still meets the need to transmit renewable energy,” Ms Muir said.

If AEMO does not redo the West Vic RIT-T, the MCHPA says, “the Alliance will take AEMO to court to enforce the law”.

An AEMO spokesperson said AEMO had received the MCHPA’s letter, and “is assessing the content carefully and will respond to the Alliance in due course”.

AusNet declined to comment on the legal proceedings.