Agriculture
15 September, 2024
VNI West licence bid as farmers ‘give access’
TRANSMISSION Company Victoria has made its bid for an electricity transmission licence for the controversial VNI West renewable energy project. The bid, first touted more than nine months ago, comes as TCV says its community reference group has...
TRANSMISSION Company Victoria has made its bid for an electricity transmission licence for the controversial VNI West renewable energy project.
The bid, first touted more than nine months ago, comes as TCV says its community reference group has started talks on “create lasting benefits for the community” along the route between Stawell and Kerang and through northern areas of the Loddon Shire.
TCV also says more than 100 landholders have now given the company land access.
Community reference group members met last month where they were given an update about the land access agreement, transmission license application, Environmental Effects Statement, Transmission Network Service Provider tender and route refinement processes.
According to TCV, the group also discussed concerns about the project, including the level of compensation for hosting transmission lines versus hosting renewable energy infrastructure.
A transmission licence would allow TCV to operate transmission infrastructure and transmit electricity in Victoria.
“Applying for a transmission licence is a regular part of delivering a project such as VNI West. The licence would support the land access, planning and environment approvals works underway as TCV proceeds with its plans to develop, design, build and operate the VNI West project,” the subsidiary of Australian Energy Market Operator said.
Consultation on the licence will be open for about six weeks and the Essential Services Commission says a decision will come two months later.
Meanwhile, Gannawarra councillor Garner Smith has launched his own push for better community benefits from the project.
Cr Smith said: “Personally, I do not see an overall long-term benefit for Communities like Gannawarra, out of either the VNI west power line or the renewable projects.
“Little to no long-term employment, unattractive infrastructure on a scale that the community does not comprehend and a benefits package that lacks detail and sound more like welfare than an opportunity.
“There has been a lot of hollow statements about VNI west and renewables being ‘Game changers’ and the ‘biggest development since irrigation’ ... it is time we turn empty promises into practical reality. If we cannot, then we should oppose this project.”
“In September 2023 I gave (Gannwarra) council the platform to negotiate a lasting benefit for Gannawarra when I moved that our support for VNI west depended on Gannawarra getting the electricity produced in Gannawarra at the feed in Tariff. According to wind turbine proponents that was 5 cents a kilowatt hour when the wind blew. Even if we add on retail administration, that will provide power for Gannawarra at a fraction of what we pay now. Instead, we got a motion with weak direction that ignored the lack of benefit of VNI west. I have recently learned that council has achieved nothing from that motion. It was a waste of a motion.
“Local use of power benefits everyone. People, business and industry will make use of a cheap resource and relocate to Gannawarra. The generators will get paid the same, we export less power to capital cities hundreds of kilometres away, reducing transmission losses and feeing up capacity on existing and new infrastructure.”
Cr Smith said a panel at the recent Rural Council Victoria forum in Trawool discussed renewable energy proposals for rural Victoria.
“The key points ... there was inequity in story – community was not benefitting from renewables, What is in it for us?
“We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to negotiate real benefits for. If we get it wrong, that opportunity will be lost forever.”