Underground powerlines could make energy more expensive and delay major project

Andrew Bray, national director of advocacy organisation RE-Alliance, said installing powerlines like those proposed for the central west underground would be "significantly more expensive for energy consumers".

"Undergrounding of high voltage platforming lines across hundreds of kilometres would be a recipe for unacceptably higher costs and unacceptably longer delays than NSW is already experiencing with transmission projects," he said.

He said the undergrounding of transmission lines would also pose "environmental challenges" from extensive digging needed to install the lines and access them for maintenance.

Mr Bray was among the energy industry professionals and renewable energy advocates giving evidence during the first hearing by the Select Committee on the Feasibility of Undergrounding the Transmission Infrastructure for Renewable Energy Projects.

The Central West Orana Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) will be a major talking point during the inquiry as the NSW government recently lodged its environmental impact statement for a project to connect it to the grid.

The NSW government is proposing to build powerlines above ground, a decision which has come under fire from some landholders.

It's the first REZ of its kind in NSW, and is approximately 20,000 square kilometres centred by Dubbo and Dunedoo, on the land of the Wiradjuri, Wailwan and Kamilaroi people. It dives as south as Mumbil, just to the north of Orange.

The Kerrs Creek wind farm, which has recently been questioned by residents in the area, is slated to be part of the zone.

Kathryn Reynolds, a member of the anti-renewables CWO REZist group, said community concerns include the inability to safely get farming equipment under the lines, the removal of large numbers of trees and the potential impact on property values.

"If we just roll over in the central west then we've let the whole state down," she told ACM.

"I appreciate it's an enormously difficult job, but our fear is we'll end up like the Victorians with the country crisscrossed with sagging transmission lines with not enough people out there to maintain them.

"Or they'll become obsolete because the projects have become obsolete and we'll still be stuck with sagging transmission lines."

In a submission to the committee CWO REZist secretary Annette Piper said EnergyCo's engagement with the community has been "limited and unsuccessful".

"Communities in the Central West Orana region were never engaged with, nor consulted upfront on whether they agreed with being forced to live and work within a modern day 'power station'," she said.

"Many community members do not support this concept."

Asked by legislative council member Stephen Lawrence where the opposition to powerline projects was coming from, Mr Bray said it was "predominantly landholders".

"It's a considerable impost, and it will be an impediment to the way they've farmed to date. There's no doubt about the fact that they are going to have to make adaptations to it," he told the committee.

"For some of them, I think the $200,000 per kilometre rate was immense after that engagement began. This is the payment for transmission landholders. For some of them, that's going to make a difference, and I understand that it has.

"But for some, they would prefer that there just wasn't that infrastructure there to begin with."

Mr Bray said the reason's landholders preference for either underground lines or above-ground lines differed from person to person.

"If you have a lifestyle block that you've retired to and you particularly like the environs around there, the aesthetic part of it might be a bigger deal," he said.

"If you're running a working farm and you've got cropping operations that you would have to change - you might have to do your irrigation differently to get around a powerline - then that's going to be an impediment."

Connor Woulfe, research adviser at the Smart Energy Council, told the committee he doesn't think the interests of a small group should subvert the greater good renewable energy would provide.

"Getting this wrong or not doing this quickly enough is a serious reliability issue," he said.

"We know that as climate change worsens over the coming decade or two decades, and we have more heatwaves and more unpredictable heatwaves, the blackouts and coal-fired power plants shutting down more irregularly and more frequently means that it's a really serious issue."

The committee is chaired by Greens legislative council member Cate Faehrmann.

She said it was established after an earlier inquiry into the issue "missed the opportunity" to provide strong recommendations to the federal government and energy companies that underground transmission lines be given more consideration.

"The rushed nature of the first inquiry did not allow members adequate time to examine the detailed evidence put to it, particularly the conflicting evidence we heard regarding underground transmission lines," she said.

Ms Faehrmann said the committee will also explore community concerns around natural disaster risk.

"This new committee is particularly interested to ensure that bushfire and climate risk are taken into consideration when decisions are made about the future energy transmission network," she said.

"We know that many residents living near proposed overhead transmission lines have real concerns about the risks overhead transmission lines pose during bushfires, in particular, and do not feel the first inquiry adequately considered these risks."

The next hearing will be held in Parliament House in Sydney on February 16, 2024.