"We're for renewables, we just want it done right": Gippsland fights for smart energy design

On Thursday night in Yarram 70 concerned locals gathered to chat about transmission lines.

VicGrid, the state government body responsible for planning and developing infrastructure that will transport energy generated by renewables, says these new transmission lines will be built above ground to save on costs and construction time. 

A local advocacy group is pushing for the transmission lines to be built underground.

In the years to come, Gippsland is going to be home to Australia’s largest offshore wind farms. According to the Victorian Government the 12 proposed offshore wind farms will generate enough energy to power 1.5 million homes (2 gigawatts) by 2032.

The government is aiming to double this amount to 4GW by 2035 and 9GW by 2040.

To bring that much energy into the grid the state government is proposing to build new transmission lines from the terminal station at Giffard to Hazelwood.

The Gippsland Monitor spoke to Kirra Bott, chair of Better Transmission Gippsland, a group advocating for farmers, landholders and community members in VicGrid’s proposed transmission line corridor.

“We represent land holders from Gifford right up to the shoreline, through to Willung, Stradbroke, all the way to Flynn and right through to Woodside and those areas as well,” she said. “It's really a vast area of affected people.”

Bott said there was confusion in the Woodside community about whether the power lines would be built underground or above ground.

“There were a few people who were a bit upset last night because they honestly thought it was still underground”.

VicGrid said fully underground transmission lines have been ruled out in Gippsland “due to challenges including cost, engineering complexity, procurement and timing”.

VicGrid is accepting feedback until June 24, although Better Transmission Gippsland is seeking to extend this date.

In April, Wellington Shire called on the state government to increase community engagement in the planning for the offshore wind transmission project. In a statement the council said; “our community has consistently voiced strong support for underground electricity transmission due to its lower impact on residents”.

The Gippsland Monitor also spoke to Better Transmission Gippsland representative Marie Howard, who said the group was not against renewables or infrastructure: “We’re for renewables, we just want it done right”.

What has VicGrid said?

VicGrid estimates the cost of building overhead transmission lines in the proposed Gippsland zone at between $700 million and $1.5 billion, while underground transmission is estimated to cost between $2 billion and $4.5 billion. 

Those additional costs would be borne by Victorian homes and businesses through higher power bills.

VicGrid chief executive Alistair Parker said in a statement that feedback from local communities stated a preference for underground lines, but that impact on bills was an important consideration.

The Victorian Government body will now work with landholders and communities in the study area to narrow it to a preferred corridor.

The cost of transmission line failures

Better Transmission Gippsland is focused on energy security. Bott and Howard talked about the storm that saw six transmission towers topple over in Anakie, Geelong in April 2024. Nearly 100,000 homes lost power.

The increasing severity of storm events impacting transmission lines has become a more frequent problem in Victoria in recent years, with multiple incidents of 500kV transmission line interconnectors failing due to wind pressure.

“When you start to look at those failings weighed up against the cost of installing underground transmission lines, it doesn't take too many Anakie’s to really start to even out those differences,” Bott said.

What are farmers concerned about?

The bulk of Better Transmission Gippsland’s membership is made up of farmers concerned about the impact overhead power lines would have on their farming operations.

“Farmers can do a lot more farming practice with underground transmission compared to overhead,” said Bott.

“There isn't anything they can't do [with underground transmission], except to build a shed or a house over it. You can still plant potatoes although, ideally, you wouldn’t plant trees. But you can do all your cropping.”