Council has its say on Victorian Transmission Plan

Published on 27 June 2025

Protecting high-value agricultural land, the wellbeing of our community and ensuring it benefits from any renewable projects are among the key themes of a submission Loddon Shire Council has made to VicGrid’s Draft 2025 Victorian Transmission Plan.

Council is directly impacted by two part of the Draft Plan – an area in the shire’s north west is part of the North West Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) announced by the Victorian Government recently, while the replacement and upgrade of the 125km Kerang-Bendigo transmission line runs mostly through the eastern part of the shire.

“Renewable energy projects should not be hosted on highly productive agricultural land when there are far more suitable alternatives, while fair financial compensation must be paid to those hosting transmission infrastructure,” said Loddon Shire Mayor Dan Straub.

“It is a growing concern for communities, the impost is getting harder and harder for communities to bear.

“In recent days there have been more protests in the northern area and push back against these projects.

“I think we need to make a strong submission about these issues.”

In its submission to the Plan, Council stresses that the broad area of Loddon Shire included within the draft REZ is high value and high productivity agricultural land.

The area includes significant irrigated farmland with irrigation infrastructure and it is considered inappropriate for this highly productive food production area to be compromised by any renewable energy project which could be located on less productive and unirrigated land.

Areas impacted by both the draft REZ and transmission upgrade are also communities and individuals who have been impacted by challenging and stressful events over recent years.

These events have included the floods of 2022 and 2023-24, uncertainty about the alignment of VNI West, VNI West being confirmed to impact their property, low rainfall over the past 12 months impacting input costs, introduction of the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund levy, mineral sands exploration, water buy-backs, and alleged unethical behaviour of commercial entities prospecting for renewable energy projects.

While some of these matters do not directly relate to the draft REZ, it is important to note that resilience of some landowners is a challenge and they may not be equipped to fully engage with this process or have trust that the engagement currently underway is authentic and meaningful.

It is unclear what the process has been to engage with landowners in the REZ directly impacted by this draft plan.

While acknowledging that it is impractical to directly engage with the vast area included in the REZ and also that landowners have property rights to agree or not agree to host projects regardless of inclusion, it would be beneficial to understand if any direct engagement has been undertaken, such as bulk letter drops.

Landowners along the proposed upgrade of the transmission line between Kerang and Bendigo are known. Council seeks VicGrid’s assurance that property owners along the transmission easement are directly informed of the proposal to upgrade the existing transmission line, are aware of any impact on their farm business and that fair financial compensation is proposed (during construction and over the asset life).

Council is also stressing the resourcing challenges that transmission and renewable energy projects have upon local government authorities in general.

Council is not the decision maker for any permits as these are considered directly by the Victorian Government.

As a result of this, Council is a referral agency for the permits and is asked to consider the vast body of work associated with the permit application and contribute feedback to the Environmental Effects Statement.

There is no compensation paid to councils for this important work and as such it is subsidised by rate payers as a cost shift.

Through the development of renewable energy and transmission projects, it is anticipated that there will be a significant impact on local roads associated with construction and operating activities.

This impact should be considered as part of the permit process, however there is a cost to Council to ensure that these impacts are adequately captured in the permit, enforcement of the conditions and monitoring.

Council should seek a guaranteed commitment of this road infrastructure being returned to as new condition at the end of any project.

There is the potential of significant financial impacts arising from the VTP. These include the infrastructure damage which would require astute management and the potential impact of lost agricultural productivity.

Submissions on the Plan closed on Tuesday, 24 June, with the final Plan expected to be published later this year. An update is expected to be published in 2027 to ensure it keeps pace with any new technologies or power demands.