By Colin MacGillivray

A State Government agency tasked with mapping the future of Victoria’s renewable energy generation and transmission has committed to consulting further with Wimmera-Mallee landowners as it seeks to establish renewable energy zones in the region.

VicGrid last month announced guidelines for the development of a 2025 Victorian Transmission Plan, which will shepherd the state away from coal power and towards its commitment of 95 per cent renewable energy by 2035.

Federal Member for Mallee Anne Webster and state Member for Lowan Emma Kealy both expressed concerns that the plan would target prime agricultural land in the Mallee and Wimmera, but VicGrid chief executive Alistair Parker said preserving farmland was one of the agency’s top priorities.

“We used 60 data sets to determine study areas, and that included information about the agricultural value of land, how strong the wind is, how strong the sun is and other environmental factors,” he said.

“We wanted to publish these maps to get a lot of local communities to have their say and to hear from people.

“We want people to tell us ‘you might have used this data set, but here’s a bit of local knowledge that you didn’t know and you’re wrong about this’.”

Mr Parker said only a small fraction of land in the outlined study areas would be used for renewable energy zones.

“I know people can see the map and think there’s going to be renewable energy infrastructure across everything on the map, but that’s absolutely not the case,” he said.

“As we go to the next stage, we’ll rule out a lot of areas that looked like they were suitable when we did our initial analysis, but when we talked to local people it didn’t work out as well as we’d hoped.

“We are also looking at how this infrastructure co-exists with farming. 

“I’ve seen examples where a solar plant has sheep grazing underneath it and it actually provides a bit of shade for the sheep, and the dew that comes off it means you get better grass in certain areas.

“We have to get food security right, we have to get water security right and we have to get energy security right.”

VicGrid hosted community drop-in sessions in Warracknabeal, Birchip and Horsham between July 29 and August 2 to speak with local landowners, but while more than 50 people attended the sessions, Mr Parker acknowledged people needed more opportunities for consultation.

“We got a bit of feedback that we hadn’t advertised it far enough in advance, so we’ve said we’ll come back to those areas to make sure we’ve heard from everybody,” he said.

“If there’s a group of a dozen people who would like to hear from us, they’re welcome to email us or call us and we’re happy to arrange events with people if they’ve got several who are interested.

“We’re desperate to hear from people – we’re really keen to get them along and hear their information.”

People can view guidelines for the forthcoming Victorian Transmission Plan, including study areas, at engage.vic.gov.au/victransmissionplan.

Mr Parker encouraged people to contact VicGrid by calling 1800 418 341 or emailing vicgrid@deeca.vic.gov.au to provide feedback or discuss the plan.

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