Victorian consumers will have to pay for the VNI West transmission project with no certainty they will ever benefit, large industrial energy users say.
Victoria’s $3.3 billion flagship electricity transmission project could be uneconomic and leave consumers paying the price, according to large industrial energy users.
It also blasted the state government’s move to steamroll the stakeholder engagement process, which it said undermined confidence in the modelling to test net benefits, and risked escalating civil disobedience along the proposed route. However, the Australian Energy Market Operator has classified VNI West, involving a 500-kilovolt overhead cable between NSW and Victoria, as a priority project to help underpin the transition to low-carbon energy in the National Electricity Market. TransGrid, which will build and own it, describes it as “essential”.
The project, which AEMO recommends is now combined with the planned Western Renewables Link line west of Melbourne, has brought local landholders and residents out on to the street amid consternation at the impact on agriculture, environment and the rural landscape.
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