General News
1 July, 2025
VicGrid engaged community on transmission plan
VicGrid staff members recently visited community members with two drop-in sessions in the shire on Thursday, June 12, to discuss their Draft 2025 Victorian Transmission Plan.
The pop-up desks were placed at Dimboola IGA in the morning and Rainbow IGA in the afternoon to get the community’s input about the plan.
VicGrid stated that people made it very clear that the benefits of the energy transition need to be shared fairly.
“We heard a range of views from people at the sessions at Dimboola and Rainbow,” VicGrid stated.
“Many people were supportive of renewable energy as the best replacement for coal-fired power and of the concept of renewable energy zones to bring coordination to development.
“Some people expressed the view that renewable energy should be developed at locations closer to Melbourne.
“People had a lot of questions about who VicGrid is and how the Victorian Transmission Plan is supposed to work.”
According to VicGrid, the government has listened and, through consultation, has developed a new approach to delivering community benefits.
The new approach features: new community energy funds to improve local energy outcomes, payments for host landholders, payments for significantly impacted neighbours and a new approach to benefits for Traditional Owners.
VicGrid chief executive Alistair Parker said the plan is about building the proper infrastructure in the right place.
“The Victorian Transmission Plan is about building the right amount of energy infrastructure in the right place at the right time to keep the lights on as coal closes down,” he said.
“This is a new approach and we’re really listening to farmers and local communities so we can minimise impacts and share benefits more fairly.
“We need the input of local people to get this right, so we were really grateful that people took the time to come along to these sessions to ask questions and have their say.”
VicGrid stated that they are also implementing requirements for energy developers to deliver meaningful benefits to local communities as a condition of gaining access to the network.
They also stated that landholders who agree to host new solar and wind farms can diversify their income streams with new sources of revenue, all in addition to existing compensation arrangements.
These arrangements require companies to fully compensate landholders hosting energy infrastructure for any impacts on the value of their land and their farming operations.
Their future plan is to work closely with local councils, other government entities, industry, and local manufacturers to realise these opportunities.
The final plan will be released later this year, and interested people can still provide direct feedback through their website on engage.vic.gov.au/victransmissionplan.