VNI West: Transmission Company Victoria’s electricity transmission licence approved

Transport Company Victoria workers can now legally enter farms to carry out preparatory works for the controversial VNI West powerline.

Transmission Company Victoria, which will build the 240km VNI West powerline, has been granted an electricity transmission licence that enables legal access to about 250 farms.

But one farmer on the route – which enters Victoria near Murrabit and traverses to Bulgana, northeast of Ararat, to connect to the Western Renewables Link – said TCV workers could still face a “fight at the gate”.

TCV applied for the licence in September last year, a month before the VNI West route was confirmed.

The state’s Essential Services Commission approved the licence last Thursday, but was only officially announced on Monday.

Kanya farmer Ben Duxson on his farm which will be carved up by VNI West transmission lines. Picture: Zoe Phillips

Ben Duxson, a farmer at Kanya, south of Marnoo, whose property is earmarked to be carved up with 1.5km of transmission lines, has maintained TCV won’t enter his property despite the licence being granted.

“They certainly won’t be welcome,” he said.

“It’s not going away, everyone is very heightened about it.

“The only way they can go about it is to try and throw money at people for compensation.

“But no one is interested in any compensation.

“If it becomes a fight at the gate we’re quite prepared for that as well.”

Once approved and built, VNI West will connect renewable projects in western Victoria to the national electricity grid.

But Mr Duxson said they weren’t sustainable and would come at the cost of valuable agricultural land.

“It is not the cheapest power, they run at about 30 per cent capacity, and are done within 25 years,” he said.

The VNI West transmission line will run from Murrabit on the Victoria-NSW border to north of Ararat. Picture: Zoe Phillips

In confirming the licence, the ESC said: “We appreciate the time and effort people took to make a submission on TCV’s licence application and the concerns raised through the process.

“All submissions were carefully considered and helped inform our decision.”

Conditions placed on the licence by ESC included stronger visibility of the use of land access powers, advance notification for any future sale or change of ownership of TCV and requirements for TCV to have its technical capacity assessed prior to transmitting electricity.

VNI West project executive Claire Cass said the licence being granted was “an important milestone”.

“We will continue to work closely with landholders and the community to finalise the project design with the least impact to people, farming and the environment,” she said.