The long-awaited VNI-West interconnector project has taken a small step forward in the planning process, with Victoria’s minister for energy and resources Lily D’Ambrosio on Saturday confirming approval for the AEMO to move ahead with the project.
VNI-West will be a 500kV transmission line between Victoria and NSW, and will enable the construction of additional renewable generation to be built in the sun-soaked Murray River Renewable Energy Zone (REZ), and the wind-rich Western Victoria REZ.
It still requires planning and environmental approvals.
In a weekend media release, the state government said the interconnector will support 3.4GW of generation in the two REZs.
The ministerial order progresses AEMO’s preferred route, published by Transgrid on Saturday. This runs from Bulgana in the west, host to the planned Western Renewables Link, running to a terminal station near the central Victorian town of Kerang, and crossing the Murray River north of Kerang.
The NSW terminus will be at a Diniwan substation, on the route of Transgrid’s and ElectraNet’s proposed EnergyConnect project. If built, EnergyConnet will stretch 900km from Wagga Wagga in NSW to Robertstown in South Australia.
The Victorian government said AEMO will “continue ongoing consultation as it works to refine the route, with community input will play a crucial role in helping design a route that minimises impacts on the landholders, the environment and farming operations.”
Once AEMO has identified the final corridor, AEMO will work with landowners, to minimise impacts to their land or interruptions to their farming activities.
Landholders will be paid $8000 annually per kilometre of transmission line, for 25 years.
“There can be no energy transition without new transmission infrastructure – as Victoria moves towards 95 per cent renewables by 2035, we have a duty to modernise our electricity network,” D’Ambrosio said.
On Saturday, Transgrid announced the publication of the final report in the regulatory investment test for VNI-West.
In that report, the project’s proponents agreed to relocate the Murray River crossing from Echuca to the north of Kerang.
AEMO Victoria planning group manager Nicola Falcon said the move means “the project can … avoid some sensitive cultural areas and prime irrigation land identified in feedback from local communities and avoid the habitat of the endangered Plains-wanderer.”
The Transgrid/AEMO report also noted that the Echuca crossing would also have impacted RAMSAR wetlands on both sides of the river.
When we reported on VNI-West in 2021, the project was expected to cost between $1.3 billion and $1.9 billion. The Australian Financial Review in April reported the cost to have blown out to $3.3 billion.
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