Council surrounded by renewables calls on governments to consider impacts

It comes after multiple landowners in the Southern Riverina voiced concerns about the potential impacts of Transgrid's VNI West transmission line project, which will span from Bulgana in Victoria to a substation at Dinawan.

Murray River Council Mayor Frank Crawley said the latest draft route still affected several landholders but was better than the 20 set to be impacted by earlier proposals.

He said council understood there was a desire for renewable energy initiatives, but it was urging the government to ensure both the routes and infrastructure to support the projects offered the least amount of impact to the local area.

"This includes considering options for underground transmission lines now and into the future," he said.

"We know renewable energy projects are continuing to emerge across the rural countryside, including near and in our region.

"This means construction of a national grid in some shape of form is inevitable along with the disruption brought about by the delivery of transmission infrastructure.

"Murray River Council residents are already surrounded by renewable energy projects, so we will continue to throw our voice into the conversation, urging the state and federal governments to carefully consider the huge economic and personal impacts on affected landholders."

Murray River Council chief executive Terry Dodds gave evidence to the select committee inquiry into the feasibility of undergrounding transmission infrastructure last year.

In his evidence, he said the VNI West route was like asking council "whether we wanted our leg amputated above or below the knee".

"We feel as though we're the sacrificial lambs, no matter what," he said.

"The Kerang substation, which is on the eastern side of the Victorian REZ, is almost directly in the centre, equidistant from Murray River Council's southern border, which is the Murray River.

"So somewhere the lines to get to Dinawan have to cross Murray River Council's area.

"We weren't given a choice."

Transgrid said discussions with the Murray River Council started in June 2022. In a statement, the shire said it first officially met with Transgrid in February 2023.

Mr Dodds' evidence noted that initial consultation with Transgrid was based on early route options, which had the project crossing the NSW/Vic border at Moama.

"Consequently, option 5 was written off because basically it was going through the western side of Moama and they hadn't spoken to council until then to find out that that land had all been subdivided and broken up into smaller blocks," he said.

"They were intending to put the powerlines almost directly over the western end of Moama, which was a bit of a faux pas on their behalf - not to have worked that out prior.

"When council highlighted that fact to them, they went away and further assessed other options, which was when they came up with option 5A."

This option, which instead crossed the Murray River at Kerang, set the NSW side of the project on an entirely new route.

Mr Dodds said council representatives attended a workshop at the end of May 2023, which was the shire's first opportunity to provide feedback on the new option.

Landowners in Murrabit, Moulamein and Wanganella, said they first found out their land could be impacted in July 2023.

In a statement, the shire said the project was delivered and managed by Transgrid and therefore the company liaised directly with potentially affected landholders and stakeholders.

It said council's role was to advocate on behalf of the community to ensure the least amount of impact possible.

Both the council and affected landowners have called for the lines to be underground, but Transgrid said this had been considered, and subsequently ruled out, in the regulatory investment test process for the project.

It said undergrounding had other considerations when compared to an overhead line, which included ground disturbance and environmental impact, biosecurity risks, restricted land use above the line and longer repair times.