Two energy sector veterans backed by furious Victorian farmers are urging policymakers to consider a cheaper alternative to hotly contested transmission plans for connecting the state’s proliferating wind and solar farms to the grid that they say would save $5 billion.

The “Plan B alternative” would rely heavily on upgrades to existing power lines, reducing the need for new 90-metre-wide easements and 80-metre-high towers that have outraged farmers in western Victoria and mired the existing projects in community consultations and lawsuits.