Ageing Victorian energy network faces fresh inquiry after blackouts

Victoria’s ageing electricity infrastructure would be examined as part of a parliamentary inquiry into the reliability of the distribution networks after damaging winds downed a 40-year-old transmission line and half a million homes were left without power.

When parliament resumes this week the Coalition will attempt to set up the inquiry, which will also examine energy storage, maintaining current energy infrastructure and how to ensure Victoria has reliable distribution networks necessary to support more renewables in the grid.

Powerlines came down in the You Yangs during last week’s storm.Credit: Jason South

The coalition’s push comes after Victoria’s energy safety watchdog launched its own investigation into the collapse of six transmission towers at Anakie last week. AusNet is the company in charge of maintaining the state’s transmission network, and Energy Safe Victoria will also investigate the company’s maintenance record and compliance with safety obligations.

Trees tore down power lines and six transmission towers crumpled to the ground when destructive winds crossed the state last Tuesday, triggering a shutdown of the massive coal-fired Loy Yang A power plant. Power was shut off to about 530,000 homes around the state as trees brought down localised power lines.

This week, David Davis, the opposition spokesman for energy affordability and security, will introduce the motion to the upper house, which will need the backing of at least eight of the 12 crossbench MPs.

On Monday, Democratic Labor MP Adem Somyurek and crossbencher Moira Deeming, a former member of the parliamentary Liberal Party, both indicated they would back the motion.

The four Greens MPs in the upper house will reveal their position on Tuesday after a party room meeting. But Brunswick MP Tim Read said in a statement that recent weather events made it clear Victoria must urgently “transition to more transmission lines, more microgrids and more back-up systems for a more resilient, 100 per cent renewable network”.

The six remaining crossbenchers – from the Animal Justice, One Nation, Shooters, Fishers and Farmers, Legalise Cannabis and Libertarian parties – will formalise their positions ahead of a debate as soon as Wednesday.

Announcing the proposal on Monday, Opposition Leader John Pesutto said he was concerned the Allan government had not already announced a “root and branch” review, and said Labor had been “on notice about the fragility of Victoria’s energy system” for some time.

“The government should be doing this on behalf of all Victorian households and businesses. They’re not. So we will,” he said.

Last Tuesday’s storms cut power to more than half a million Victorian homes.Credit: Powercor

Pesutto said the inquiry could also explore putting more transmission lines underground where suitable, and dismissed concerns it would cost too much.

A Victorian government spokesperson dismissed the move as: “Another stunt from John Pesutto’s Liberals – the same Liberal party that sold off Victoria’s power stations, transmission lines and distribution network to private for profit companies.”

Those comments came after Jack Rush, KC, a former Supreme Court judge who was praised for his role as counsel assisting the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, told The Age that not enough had been done to upgrade the electricity distribution network in regional areas following the inquiry.

The royal commission, which followed the Black Saturday bushfires that cost 173 lives and razed more than 450,000 hectares, called for “the progressive replacement of all single-wire earth return powerlines in Victoria with aerial bundled cable, underground cabling or other technology that delivers greatly reduced bushfire risk”.

But a recent annual report, by the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, revealed it would take it could take 50 years to bury and replace wires in all fire-risk zones.

“Don’t ever tell me that this priority cannot be met,” Pesutto said on Monday.

Last week, The Age revealed the energy safety watchdog, Energy Safe Victoria, had found 50 examples in which key electricity transmission lines in the state’s west had missed targets for maintenance and identified a “major safety concern” around what it described as an “uncertain timeframe” to deliver works on ageing towers earmarked for replacement in south-western Victoria.

In another report, The Age revealed an assessment done by AusNet, which owns and operates Victoria’s transmission network, found almost one in seven of Victoria’s 13,000 electricity transmission towers are damaged by patchy or extensive rust, with the average transmission tower in Victoria now about 57 years old.

Under the opposition’s motion, the bipartisan committee will comprise two government MPs, two opposition members and two crossbench MPS, and will provide a final report by June 30 next year.

On Friday, Energy Safe Victoria confirmed it would also launch an investigation into AusNet, and said it was accountable for the operations and maintenance of its transmission network “in its entirety”.

“Energy Safe’s highest priority is the prevention of harm to the community from the supply and use of energy,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

An AusNet spokeswoman said the towers that collapsed between Geelong and Melbourne were last inspected in July 2023 and found to be in good condition.

The Victorian government was contacted for comment.

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