VICGRID says they’ve listened to us.

The State Government agency charged with the task of planning and developing Victoria’s Renewable Energy Zones and the transmission infrastructure to support the rollout of renewable energy has completed the “guidelines” phase of its consultation process.

They say they received 381 guiding principles feedback form responses, 413 study area feedback form responses, 28 generator survey responses, 171 submissions, 34 email queries and eight contact centre queries after staging 25 community “drop-in” events.

And they say they’ve heard what we had to say and made subtle changes to the guidelines they’ll use to come up with their plan to replace the state’s existing energy generation system.

In a response report released this week, VicGrid acknowledged feedback about the impact of 300 metre-high turbines, massive solar farms and hundreds of kilometres of transmission towers “on regional areas to service metropolitan energy demands”, on farming operations, water systems and endangered species and on bushfires.

They say they heard what the community said about the effectiveness or otherwise of their community engagement methods, whether they’ll listen or change anything anyway, and the negative response to their prior engagement and the lack of impact it had on the process.

Doubts were also raised, they said, about the benefits to local communities of the transition to renewables.

“We heard concerns about and support for how regions will benefit economically from hosting generation or transmission, and doubts about the actual benefits communities may receive.

“We received significant feedback on the impact of the energy transition on regional communities. This ranges from a feeling that regional communities are bearing the brunt of the transition, to experiences of community division stemming from some previous renewable development. Examples included instances of some community members receiving undisclosed benefits while neighbouring properties were burdened with impacts.

“There is a strong concern from communities that hosting more renewable generation will significantly impact their sense of place and community, wellbeing, culture, ways of living and connection to Country as a result of transmission and generation infrastructure dominating the landscape. There was some support for alternative energy sources, most frequently nuclear, with the view it could be built on the sites of existing coal-fired power stations as an alternative to building new transmission. While other themes tend to show a greater degree of regional nuance, this theme is consistent across the state and expresses a sense that regions are shouldering the burden of the transition and are feeling that their region already has its share of projects.”

Read ‘what they heard’ HERE.

Read the revised guidelines HERE.

So, they have heard us but what will they do about it?

VicGrid says they have considered all feedback received as part of the consultation on the draft VTP Guidelines and has made changes where appropriate. A summary of the key changes to the 2024 VTP Guidelines is set out below.

• (1.) Stakeholders expressed a desire for more clarity on some inputs to the strategic land use assessment and the role of stakeholder feedback in defining proposed renewable energy zones.
• RESPONSE: More detail has been included to explain some aspects of the strategic land use assessment, including in relation to agriculture, bushfires and biodiversity. Further detail has also been included to clarify how feedback will inform renewable energy zone definition.
• (2.) Stakeholders were keen to better understand how the VTP interacts with other VicGrid policies, such as the access schemes for REZs, community benefits initiatives and the procurement of transmission infrastructure.
• RESPONSE: The 2024 VTP Guidelines emphasise that the VTP is one part of a suite of policies that will enable the development of Victoria’s electricity transmission and generation and storage infrastructure. Other key policies include the Victorian Access Regime, the draft Community Benefits Plan and the approach to procuring transmission infrastructure.
• (3.) Stakeholders and VicGrid saw value in clarifying some of the assumptions around electricity load and generation (including gas powered generation) and updating data points to reflect the most recent data from the Australian Energy Market Operator’s 2024 Integrated System Plan (AEMO’s 2024 ISP), which became available after the release of the draft VTP Guidelines.
• RESPONSE: Minor clarifications and changes have been made to the inputs, assumptions and scenarios that will be used for the VTP. Scenario 2 now also includes Marinus Link Stage 2 consistent with its role in a high demand scenario. The assumptions and inputs set out in the 2024 VTP Guidelines now include a limit on the role of gaspowered generation consistent with AEMO’s 2024 ISP.
• (4.) Stakeholders requested more clarity on how the study area, and the tiers of land identified within it, would be used to develop proposed REZs and inform transmission infrastructure projects.
• RESPONSE: The role of the study area has been clarified in the 2024 VTP Guidelines, including to note that deprioritised areas may be taken into account when defining precise REZ boundaries.
• (5.) Stakeholders were interested to understand how existing generation and transmission projects would inform the proposed renewable energy zones and transmission development projects and pathways.
• RESPONSE: More detail has been included to explain how existing generation and transmission informs where future renewable energy zones may be located.
• (6.) Improved clarity and changes inherently required as part of a change from the draft VTP Guidelines to the 2024 VTP Guidelines.
• RESPONSE: Minor editorial changes and changes that summarise the engagement undertaken on the draft VTP Guidelines and key engagement themes.
• (7.) Stakeholder feedback emphasised that minimising land-use, cultural and environmental impacts is an important principle in guiding decisions about renewable energy infrastructure development.
• RESPONSE: More detail has been included about how land-use information will be considered in the multi-criteria analysis that is part of the methodology to identify where future renewable energy zones may be located.

However, a short paragraph in the revised “2024 Victorian Transmission Plan Guidelines” about the strategic land use assessment that will be used to nominate the best location for renewable energy infrastructure reveals their thinking:

“The strategic land use assessment is a new process to support electricity system planning in Victoria. It recognises important values many Victorians place on our land and landscape, covering culture and heritage, livelihoods, ecosystems and biodiversity, food and fibre, recreation, strategic minerals and many others. Impacts on these need to be minimised, alongside energy system considerations like keeping the cost of energy low and attracting renewable energy investment to locations where it is most productive.”

They’ll hear what we have to say, have regard for other important land-use including farming practices and valued landscapes but will ultimately place the infrastructure where it needs to go to (a.) keep the cost of energy low and (b.) attract energy investment to the most productive locations.

The State Government believes it is just too important economically and politically to do anything else.

One of their adaption methods will be to identify compatibility between farming practices and renewable energy infrastructure including grazing sheep under solar panels and running cattle and dairy cows under wind turbines. Not sure what they’ll do with cropping.

Background: VicGrid released the draft VTP Guidelines (the guidelines) on July 22, 2024. The guidelines document describes how VicGrid will produce the 2025 Victorian Transmission Plan. It also includes a renewable energy zone study area map, showing the parts of Victoria that VicGrid will investigate further as it works to identify potential future renewable energy zones. The guidelines will be updated over time and used for future VTPs. The release of the draft VTP Guidelines commenced a formal five-week community and industry engagement consultation period for the guidelines (from July 22 to August 25, 2024) and a 10-week consultation period for the study area (from July 22 to September 30, 2024).

To read the revised guidelines and associated documents go to: https://engage.vic.gov.au/victransmissionplan