Katherine Myers and her husband Ben are fifth-generation potato farmers.
Key points:
- AEMO says five new transmission line projects “as urgent as possible” should be carried out
- Many experts and investors say the grid needs improvement to meet renewable energy goals
- Hundreds of people from a Victorian regional community are campaigning against the lines that will pass through their city
They live with their children in west Victoria, where a transition to renewable energy is taking place and, like most Australians, are deeply concerned about preventing climate change.
However, there is one aspect of the transition to renewables that could jeopardize its operation: an upcoming power transmission project will see high-voltage power lines built across its farm.
Once the lines are finished, Ms. Myers worries that her family will not be able to water or use planes to spray the crops.
“This paddock here is … growing certified seed potatoes for the rest of our industry,” Ms. Myers said.
“This paddock will not be suitable for growing potatoes once it passes the transmission line.”
Katherine Myers says she knew nothing about Australia’s energy system, until Ausnet made a proposal to build high-voltage cables across its property. (ABC News: Billy Cooper)
The Myers family is among the hundreds of people in Daylesford and the surrounding area who are campaigning against the major transmission lines that run through their town, 140 miles northwest of Melbourne.
These overhead cables, and the transmission towers to transport them, are part of a plan to create a large renewable energy center west of Victoria, supplying zero-emission electricity to Melbourne, a project that the operator of the Energy market is now considered “imperative” The energy future of Australia.
“Renewable energy is absolutely essential. It’s the way we’re going,” Ms. Myers says.
“It’s just the importance of achieving this relationship between protecting our food security and managing the introduction of renewable energy.”
‘Congestion’ in the energy network
The Labor government has a plan to increase the share of renewable energy on the grid to 82% by 2030.
“It’s a very ambitious agenda,” says Simon Corbell, a former deputy head of Labor’s ACT who now represents investors in renewable energy.
“But it has to happen and we will have to mobilize all our resources in both the public and private sectors to make it a reality.”
Simon Corbell says the proportion of renewable energy needs to be increased. (ABC News: Clarissa Thorpe / File)
However, many industry experts and investors say that reaching 82% of renewable energy will only be possible with a significant improvement in the poles and cables that carry that energy across the country.
Renewable energy investor John Martin knows this better than anyone. After years working in finance, he began investing in renewable energy in 2017 and has overseen the development of dozens of large projects in Australia, the United States, Africa and elsewhere.
When he started as CEO of New Energy Solar, he planned to develop half of his assets in Australia and half in the United States. But the state of the Australian transmission network meant that it never came to fruition.
“We built 59 solar farms in my investment business and only two of them were in Australia,” says Martin, who is now the CEO of Windlab.
“We spent more time managing the issues around these two projects than the 57 in the United States.”
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He says a solar farm in north-west NSW, Manildra Solar Farm, encapsulates transmission problems in Australia.
His previous investment business, New Energy Solar, built the farm in 2018, and at first everything was perfect.
“I always say this is one of the most beautiful renewable energy projects I’ve worked on. And, until recently … one of the most profitable ones I’ve been involved in,” he says.
However, shortly after its launch, the Australian energy market operator (AEMO) began telling operators that they did not have permission to put the electricity it was producing on the grid.
It’s a problem called “congestion”: the poles and cables in this part of the network simply weren’t up to par and couldn’t carry energy safely.
“A lot of energy is being generated with renewable energy resources without enough transmission capacity to charge it,” Martin says.
The new owners of Manildra’s solar farm say most of the energy generated during peak production periods is wasted. (ABC News: Michael Slezak)
So New Energy Solar sold the farm to Banpu Energy, in part because of the congestion problem.
The new owners say that during periods of peak production, 60 percent of energy is simply wasted.
John Martin said that is why he and many other investors have not built more renewable energy in Australia.
“It’s too risky. If you generate renewable energy and it will be wasted, why invest here? Why deploy capital here?” He said.
Corbell said that if the government fixed the transmission network, investors would go to the market.
“The number one problem investors face that the new government has to address is access to transmission,” he said.
Incorporation of communities
This message was heard by Labor before the election, and is now crucial to the government’s climate plan.
“The missing piece has been transmission: getting energy from where it is produced to where it will be consumed,” Federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen told ABC.
Energy Minister Chris Bowen says switching to renewable energy is vital. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
Instead of focusing on subsidizing renewable energy generation, the government is investing $ 20 billion in modernizing the transmission network.
This money is intended to help build 10,000 kilometers of transmission lines, which AEMO said was urgent and essential to unblock areas of renewable energy across the country.
However, it is this massive deployment that could leave the government facing communities like the one where the Myers live.
Most of the community there wants the transmission cables buried underground where they will be out of sight. They say underground transmission will be safer in bad weather and forest fires, and will have less impact on agriculture.
Farmer David Myers sorts the potatoes while his grandchildren watch. (ABC News: Loretta Florance)
Ausnet, the energy company proposing transmission lines west of Victoria, told the ABC that it will continue to work with affected communities to “understand their priorities and how local benefits can be incorporated into this project.”
“The project continues to investigate partial burial options as part of the Environmental Effects Statement, which will be presented later this year,” the statement says.
In March, hundreds of farmers went to Melbourne to protest the West Victoria Transmission Network project. (ABC Rural: Jane McNaughton)
Few communities would be happy with giant transmission lines cutting through their streets, fields or forests, and Minister Bowen says he understands the need to improve consultations with communities.
“Communities think, for the time being, that when they are consulted, it’s basically a consummate fact: the decision has already been made where the lines will go,” he said.
“And you know what? They’re often right.”
Energy change is one of Australia’s “biggest changes”
Everyone the ABC spoke to about this story (politicians, investors and community members) said Australia should review the regulations governing how transmission projects are decided.
The most significant change needed, they said, concerns the regulatory investment test for transmission (RIT-T), which sets out the considerations for a proposed transmission project.
Before the election, Labor pledged to change it and Minister Bowen said it was still a priority.
“I am absolutely determined to improve the process,” he said.
“It was designed for small additions to the transmission, not for the transformation type [increment] which we have to do across the country.
“It’s more important than ever that we do it right.”
Three generations of the Myers family are looking at where it is proposed to build high-voltage power lines. (ABC News: Loretta Florance)
Minister Bowen said navigating these issues was essential as Australia moves towards zero net emissions.
“It’s one of the biggest changes our economy has ever seen,” he said.
Martin said he was optimistic that the government’s goals would be exceeded.
“We will achieve the three magic goals: we will have electricity at a much lower cost than we are seeing at the moment. It will be much more reliable and we will support decarbonisation,” he says.
“And I think in the next 10 years we’ll be able to really break it down in the electrical industry.”
Posted 4 hours, 4 hours ago, Tuesday, July 5, 2022 at 6:33 AM, updated 4 hours ago, 4 hours ago, Tuesday, July 5, 2022 at 6:33 AM