Western Renewables Link construction delayed until after November 2026 election

AusNet has delayed construction of the Western Renewables Link until after the November 2026 Victorian state election.

The Western Renewables Link delay follows years of landholder anger and protests against the project.

Construction of the Western Renewables Link, which carves its way through the Labor-held electorates of Melton, Eureka and Ripon, has been delayed until after Victoria’s November 2026 election.

Labor’s Ripon MP Martha Haylett holds the seat on a margin of just 3 per cent, with the party’s Melton member Steve McGhie on a margin of 4 per cent. Eureka MP Michaela Settle is on a more comfortable margin of 7.2 per cent.

Up until last month the timeline on transmission giant AusNet’s WRL website stated it would “commence construction” of the 500kV transmission line by the middle of this year.

But AusNet has since removed all reference to a construction start date on its timeline, which now shows the next 19 months leading up to the November 2026 state election will be taken up with public consultation on its environmental effects statement and planning approvals.

AusNet's Western Renewables Link timeline, as of March 17, 2025

AusNet's revised Western Renewables Link timeline, as of April 23, 2025

It appears much of the delay is due to government-controlled processes, with 13 months devoted to a planning panel hearing, ministerial assessment and decision, with a planning scheme amendment not due to be gazetted until September next year – two months out from the election.

However an AusNet spokeswoman said: “The project timeline has been updated to reflect the current status of the project, with construction timeframes to be confirmed during the planning process.

“Last year, the project scope changed, doubling the transmission line’s capacity and relocating the proposed terminal station from north of Ballarat to a new site near Bulgana.

“These changes involved extensive updates including engineering design, planning and community consultation.”

However the scope of works for WRL were changed by Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio in an order issued on May 27, 2023, not last year, which raises questions about what AusNet has been doing for the past two years.

The ministerial order involved an uprate of 140km of the 200km WRL line from 220kV to 500kV, a slight deviation of the route around Waubra and shifting the proposed location of the terminal station from Mount Prospect to Bulgana.

Opposition planning spokesman Richard Riordan said the delay was “absolutely deliberate”, given WRL was planned to run through the Labor-held electorates of Melton, Eureka (Ballarat) and Ripon.

Mr Riordan said the government was also treading more cautiously after Syncline Energy went public last month on its proposal to replace WRL and halve the length of the VNI West transmission line with an underground direct current cable from Sydenham to Charlton.

Syncline Energy owner Phil Galloway has previously stated the 525kV DC cable created “an opportunity for the government to rethink”, given the benefits of undergrounding.