Widgee “Say NO to the Lines” Rally: Meet the Aussie Battlers Standing Up to Big Green

Essay by Eric Worrall

When Net Zero obsessed Aussie Federal and State Governments announced large scale electricity grid extensions to service renewable energy installations, they forgot to talk to the land owners.

Last Friday I attended a meeting at Widgee Bushman’s Bar for people concerned about the green grid extensions. Some prominent politicians spoke at the event. Federal Senator Malcolm Roberts, and Federal Member of Parliament Colin Boyce spoke up about their concerns over the way land owners are being treated.

The pushback against Aussie green electricity grid extensions is largely getting the silent treatment from mainstream media. With a few honourable exceptions, the concerns of rural people who are worried about having their land value and amenity ruined with compulsory acquisitions to service the profits of big green is largely being ignored.

But as you can see from the size of the rally in the small country town of Widgee, this is an issue rural people care about.

The carpark for the Widgee Bushman’s Bar was full to bursting, the parking attendants were down to their last two spaces when I arrived.

Talking to Nolene from Kilkivan Action Group, the biggest issue with the power line extension project to date has been a perception of very poor or incomplete communication. People are worried about the impact on their land, and there are also fears of communities being divided by sharp negotiating practices.

There is also a concern that some information is difficult to access, despite claims to the contrary. For example, Powerlink have assured residents power lines comply to standard AS7000, but to obtain a copy of AS7000, residents have to pay $313.30 to SAI Global.

The following is part of an email provided to me by the Kilkivan Action Group;

Dear Kilkivan Action Group members, 

Thank you for your follow-up query regarding electric and magnetic fields (EMF) related to the Borumba Pumped Hydro Project transmission connections.

Audible noise from transmission lines primarily occurs in inclement weather. Water drops that collect on the energised surface of the transmission line wires (called conductors) and associated transmission line hardware produce corona discharges based on the electrical stress on the surface which is defined by the surface voltage gradient (SVG). The design scenarios for transmission lines producing audible noise considers the following situations:

1. Fair weather – dry conditions where the recommended application of SVG of 16 kV/cm or less means the line generally operates below corona inception levels (see the attached extract from AS7000).
2. Inclement weather – high humidity, fog and light rain – causes droplet formation on the conductor when current loading on the line is low and the heat in the conductor is not enough to evaporate the drops off the conductor surface. Water droplets alter the circular shape of the conductor and it is no longer circular. The higher the SVG is, the higher the bursts of corona that occur at droplet locations. AS7000 provides guidance on SVG so an appropriate benchmark can be applied to optimise conductor size (cost) Vs. likely audible noise.
3. Inclement weather – heavy rain – Saturated conductors that won’t evaporate quickly due to the rate of rainfall and droplet formation. Rain conditions generally set the audible noise design limits, but these are offset by the fact that background noise levels are also high from the rain activity itself.

…

So far Powerlink has not provided a free copy of the full AS7000 standard to at least some groups potentially impacted by the proposed power lines. $313.30 might not seem like a big deal, but if every group has to pay $313.30 for this controlled document which contains key answers about the safety impacts of the new power lines, and pay additional fees for paper chasing other controlled documents, it doesn’t take long until substantial money has to be paid, just to obtain information which in my opinion should be freely available to affected land owners.

Powerlink offered in the email above to provide a domain expert to discuss the standard with the Kilkivan Action Group, but this is not the same as having a copy of the actual document.

Given this level of apparent difficulty obtaining key information, and the perception of poor communication, it is no wonder affected land owners feel they have unanswered concerns about the potential health impacts, fire risks and impacts on property values and the health of animals on their farms, and that their concerns are not being adequately addressed.

There are also allegations the power companies may have been astroturfing – putting together unrepresentative “consultation” groups and claiming they had community agreement on the basis of talking to these hand picked groups. Obviously this might just be that they failed to reach significant groups of people with their in my opinion inadequate consultation efforts.

Biosecurity during construction and maintenance is also an issue the people I spoke to raised. Australia has serious problems with controlling some weeds and pests, to the extent farmers operate rigorous biosecurity practices to protect their properties. According to the rural people I spoke to, there are already shortages of key bio-control chemicals, so the impact of all this construction and access by people who might not be fully cognisant of required biosecurity procedures is also a major source of concern.

The impact on roads was also raised. A few weeks ago I published a video showing the desperate state of the poorly maintained roads in this part of Australia. Imagine the state they will be in after heavy construction trucks have used them to provide supplies for a major power grid extension.

The AEMO advises energy companies to obtain “social license” for their projects. I think given the level of distress currently being experienced by the rural people I spoke to, and the alleged communication blunders, it is fair to say they power companies are a long way from obtaining this vital “social license” with many potentially affected rural land owners.

Update (EW): h/t Katy – Click here to listen to an ABC interview with Katy from Kilkivan Action Group. The interview starts at 42 minutes into the recording, in which Katy expresses concern about the risk to protected native species, and asks why the power lines can’t be buried and run alongside roads, to minimise disruption to locals and fire risk.