WESTERN VICTORIAN
ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL PROTECTION GROUP
What is happening
AusNet wants to build the Western Renewables Link. A 190km high-voltage transmission line connecting Bulgana, near Ararat where there are numerous windfarms, to Sydenham, in Melbourne’s west.
They want to build about 380 towers as tall as the MCG light towers!
They also want to build a massive terminal station north of Ballarat at Mount Prospect, taking up 60 acres of private land. That is about 12 times the size of the MCG!
After 2 1/2 years of strong community opposition, Ausnet cancelled the Western Renewables Link 60 acre Terminal Station on a waterway at Mount Prospect!!
Their planning from day one had been a train wreck!!
The Terminal Station would have had;
*a new line come in from the north next to the existing Bendigo Ballarat transmission line but larger. This will be power from the ACT
*a new line from the south beside the existing Bendigo Ballarat line for power from Western Victorian renewable projects
*a new line from the west, Bulgana / Great Western which will be 550 KV
* and new transmission line will run off to the south east from the Terminal Station to go to Sydenham / Keilor to link into Melbournes grid.
The Terminal Station will then see MICRO GRIDS appear. These are solar projects that RES Renewables have been canvasing across the region. Some 1000 acres in size. This will see massive power lines line a spiders web all link back to the terminal station.
But after 2 1/2 years Ausnet and AEMO cancelled the Western Renewables Link terminal station site at Mount Prospect due to unprecedent community opposition, never seen before with electrical infrastructure in Australia.
Western Renewables Link 60 acre Terminal Station proposed at Mount Prospect.
AusNet will try to compulsorily acquire land that has been in the same families’ hands for generations – all so they can build towers and powerlines that:
- devalue properties
- Render Irrigation infrastructure useless
- Make surrounding land unusable
- Destroy native habitat
- Threaten native animals
- Destroy tourism west of Daylesford
- Cause ecological damage to the waterway with the siting of a terminal station on top of it
- Farms will be split in two, rendering them un-viable
Property Devaluation interview; ABC Radio with farmer Tom Drife and Real Estate Agent Brett Douglass
Who will be impacted
Ausnet’s WVTNP will crush
- Lifestyle properties
- Tourism Businesses
- Beef and Sheep farming
- Potato Farming
- Grain Farming
The region west of Daylesford is renowned for is fresh vibrant clean environment.
Agriculture is world first, tourism is a key economic driver in the region, as is organic boutique farming. And with the covid 19 crisis rural living and working remotely has seen a mass migration to the region.
What we want
Piss Off Ausnet supports renewable energy and wants green energy generated in Western Victoria and to be connected to the rest of the state.
BUT green energy shouldn’t come at the cost to our natural environment! Overhead powerlines are unsafe, inefficient and will destroy our precious landscape.
As we have seen in recent weeks with the massive storms across our state, overhead powerlines fail when put under such stress. Strong winds, storms, fires… all cause massive infrastructure failures.
We want our politicians to stand up for our environment and our rich agricultural areas and PUT THE POWERLINES UNDERGROUND and down the Western Highway!
And place the Terminal Statio 60 acres 12 x the MCG in an industrial zone area, not in pristine farmland
Underground transmission might be more expensive to install, but it’s safer and more efficient. And it is proven to be of equal cost over the life of the project.
Despite these facts, communities from the Ararat region to Sydenham have been told there’s no other way – that AusNet’s massive towers and giant terminal station are the only solution.
What YOU can do
We need your help to convince the government and AusNet to put the powerlines underground and NOT have a terminal station in the middle of productive farming land.