The Weekly Advertiser - Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Page 1

Vol. No. Vol. 2018No. 38 27

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Wednesday, January 2016 Wednesday, April13, 4, 2018

SWAMPED: Melbourne-based Tasmanian Stawell Gift winner Jacob Despard, still in his backmarker silks, accepts his $40,000 Stawell Athletic Club Stawell Gift cheque to the delight of ecstatic fans. Running off 4.5 metres, Despard covered Stawell’s 120-metre Central Park grass track in 12.121 seconds. For more, see sport. Picture: PAUL CARRACHER

Power upgrade push T

BY DEAN LAWSON

he leader of a strong push to capitalise on renewableenergy development in western Victoria believes the industry has potential to pump billions of investment dollars into the Wimmera.

But Grampians New Energy Task Force chairman Stuart Benjamin said the opportunity would only arise with a major upgrade of electrical infrastructure across the region. Mr Benjamin, in echoing concerns from Wimmera Development Asso-

ciation, stressed that western Victorian transmission lines had all but run out of capacity for new major renewableenergy projects such as wind or solar farms. “If we could get the extra capacity needed into the Wimmera it would equate to $4-billion to $5-billion worth of projects in the region,” he said. “At the moment that can’t happen.” Mr Benjamin, also Regional Development Australia’s Grampians chairman, added that a third electrical interconnector between Victoria and South Australia was essential to un-

locking renewable-energy production in Victoria. He said he had taken a submission to the Australian Market Energy Operator, AMEO, which is reviewing the national grid, and discussed the issue in depth with Federal Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg during a visit to Canberra. “I’ve been lobbying heavily and the hope is that by the end of the year there will be confirmation of a need for a third interconnector, which would be a game changer,” he said. Wimmera Development Association made a similar plea early last year,

prompting a response from Member for Mallee and Standing Committee on Environment and Energy chairman Andrew Broad that the potential cost of an extra interconnector, at ‘a billion dollars’, might be prohibitive. RDA Grampians, representing a western Victorian economic region stretching from Moorabool to the South Australian border and into the southern Mallee, established the Grampians New Energy Task Force about two months ago. Its formation was based on an understanding that much of western Victoria was missing out on jobs and in-

vestment, based on renewable-energy limitations, and a need for a collective effort to work through issues with government. Mr Benjamin said the taskforce had backing or input from regional development organisations, local government councils, Regional Development Victoria and Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning. He said the request was for AMEO to lead an upgrade of western Victorian power infrastructure to allow the region to capitalise on renewablepower-generation opportunities. Continued page 3

IN THIS ISSUE • Tourism boost for Northern Grampians, Jeparit • Football-netball underway

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