Key Victorian transmission line hit by two-year delay
The delay in the completion date for the $3.3 billion VNI West project until late 2030 has dealt another blow to the troubled roll-out of clean energy generation to meet end-of-decade targets for renewable energy and emissions reduction.
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Sky News AU
3 days ago
- Sky News AU
‘No surprise to anybody': $4b project delay another hit to government's green ambition
The Australian's Environment Editor Graham Lloyd has weighed in on the two-year delay for the $4 billion Victoria–New South Wales power project. VNI West, a 240-kilometre transmission line to connect Victoria and New South Wales, will be pushed back, which is a major hit to the nation's renewable energy goals. 'It should be no surprise to anybody,' Mr Lloyd told Sky News host Steve Price. 'It's another reminder that it's a lot easier to put these things down on paper than it is to produce them in reality.'
Herald Sun
3 days ago
- Herald Sun
VNI West powerline deal: TCV offers farmers $460,000 a km
A slowdown in the rollout of Victoria's 500kV VNI West transmission line, has prompted its proponent to offer landholders an extra $460,000 to sign easement deals. Transmission Company Victotria has already offered up to $50,000 in sign-on bonuses, which comes on top of an annual state government contribution of $8000 per kilometre of the line built across landholders properties for the next 25 years. TCV confirmed this week it had not signed any easement agreements with the 220 landholders along the proposed VNI West route. Most landholders have refused to budge, prompting the government to draft legislation imposing penalties of up $12,210 for anyone landholder who tries to block transmission The Weekly Times understands TCV is desperate to avoid seeing footage of farmers being arrested on the evening news and has come up with a plan to boost landholder payments. Sutherland farmer Barry Batters, who has about 4kms of the proposed VNI West line crossing his property, said landholders were 'willing to be arrested' in their bid to stop TCV accessing their land. Such resistance has pushed TCV into upping its offer, recently briefing the VNI West Community Reference Group on a new '$46,000 per hectare landholder benefit payment', which it developed in response to feedback that 'compensation alone was not a benefit'. The payment equates to $460,000/km on a 100m-wide transmission easement traversing a farm and comes on top of the government's $200,000 over 25 years, plus statutory payments made under the Land Acquisition and Compensation Act. Of the $46,000/ha, 20 per cent is paid upfront when the establishment and access deed are signed, then another 20 per cent when the option for easement is signed. However TCV has failed to brief farmers on the tax treatment of the payments, which if defined as off-farm income could be taxed at 45 cents in the dollar. Farmers are still sceptical as to how successful the new payment will be in getting landholders to sign up to easement agreements. Dooboobetic grain grower and harvest contractor James Burke, who faces 9km of the proposed VNI West line being built across the family's 3600ha property, said the additional $46,000/ha payment would make 'zero difference' to those opposing the project. 'I don't believe people understand what it's going to do,' Mr Burke said. 'We can't operate the latest John Deere harvesters under it, and they're getting bigger every year.' 'It'll ruin some of the best dirt in Victoria - the Gooroc Plain.' The slowdown has forced TCV to extend the VNI West completion date from 2028 to 2030 for VNI West. The progress of the massive Western Renewables Link is also under a cloud, after porponent AusNet extended the transmission lines completion dat sfrom mid-2027 to late 2029, due to landholder resistance and a slowdown in the pace of construction. Both projects also face the uncertainty of what happens if a Liberal-Nationals government is elected in November next year, given the coalition is considering a Plan B alternative that would end the need for VNI West. Australian Energy Market Operator Victorian group manager Claire Cass, who is overseeing the VNI West, notified landholders last week that the 2028 completion date for the project had been delayed until 2030, to 'account for time needed to progress land access arrangements' and other planning and environmental assessments. WRL general manager Gerard Carew said 'we recognise that hosting infrastructure like the Western Renewables Link can be challenging and in response to landholder feedback, we have recently introduced a range of new compensation and benefit sharing initiatives for landholders. 'We are currently positively engaging with the majority of landholders.' However AusNet has admitted its lack of access to properties along the 190km WRL route hampered its ability to prepare an Environmental Effects Statement for the project, which it finally released this week after months of delays. 'As we have not been able to access all sections of the proposed route, the data included in the EES takes a conservative approach to ensure all potential environmental impacts,' AusNet stated. The EES states that while 'construction of the (WRL) project may temporarily disrupt routine activities and restrict land use', the longer-term residual impacts were assessed as minor for construction. However the EES also states 'potential impacts from restrictions and disruptions to routine activities, and the temporary isolation and redundancy of productive land may vary property to property and in some cases could be greater. 'Impacts will be managed through the development and implementation of property-specific management plans and strategies.' Meanwhile AusNet is also trying to gain wider community support for the project by offering payments to the neighbours of affected landholders. The WRL Near Neighbour Benefit program offers payments of $20,000 to anyone within 400m to 1km of the transmission line and $40,000 for those closer than 400m. Victorian Nationals leader Danny O'Brien said the Coalition was considering the Plan B 'cheaper, less disruptive option, as we finalise a position ahead of next year's election'. Plan B involves using 1321kms of existing powerline easements to lift the state's transmission capacity by 16,675 megawatts, allowing more wind and solar farms to connect to the grid and eliminating the need to construct the VNI West project. Originally published as Farmers offered $460,000/km in latest VNI West deal
Sky News AU
3 days ago
- Sky News AU
Renewable energy targets under threat as offshore wind producer considers selling major Victorian project while delays mount
In a major blow to Australia's clean energy targets, one of the nations largest offshore wind producers is considering selling its Gippsland project off the Victoria coast, while transmission line projects continue to lag. Bluefoat Energy, based in Spain, acquired a feasibility license late last year to construct a significant offshore wind project off Victoria's Gippsland region and also secured a preliminary development licence in New South Wales with both considered essential in meeting state and federal emission reduction deadlines. However, The Australian reported that sources within the company revealed BlueFoat was considering departing the Australian market altogether and was further mulling selling off its Victorian development. However, a spokesman for the company declined to comment and insisted that no final decision had been made. Victoria, which stands as one of Australia's most fossil fuel dependent states, has some of the most stringent renewable energy targets in the nation, and aims to reach 95 per cent renewable electricity generation by 2035. Energy experts have been despairing about the feasibility of the state's targets as coal-fired power stations continue to reach the end of their lifespans. Two of the state's largest coal-fired power stations, Energy Australia's Yallourn and AGL Energy's Loy Yang A, are due to close their doors within the next ten years. Clean energy projects, particularly in the south-east, continue to be bogged down in protracted delays, including the VNI West project which will now be completed in 2030 as opposed to the original deadline of 2028. The offshore wind sector also faces lengthening completion timelines, inconsistent state and federal regulation, paired with a lack of global attitude towards the clean energy transition as US President Donald Trump continues to wind down investments in renewable projects both domestically and abroad. Offshore wind also faces a concerning lacks of transmission infrastructure, local manufacturing capabilities and persistent labour shortages. BlueFloat's potential withdrawal is set to raise alarm bells at both federal and state levels, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan both touting offshore wind as one of the most critical elements to Australia's energy transition. Victoria unlike other states has placed offshore wind at the heart of its decarbonisation strategy and set a bold target of producing nine gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2040, which the state government claims is enough to power more than 6.5 million homes. However, BlueFoat is not the only global energy consortium facing mounting difficulties in Australia with Norwegian energy firm Equinor also yet to formally accept an offshore wind development licence in NSW. The International Energy Agency has warned that global costs for offshore energy projects have risen by as much as 40 per cent due to supply chain woes and persistently high inflation.
