‘Everyone’s against it’: the powerlines dispute in one of Victoria’s most marginal electorates

Proposed transmission lines to help meet renewable targets are slated to run through Ripon, held by just 15 votes in 2018

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A long-running dispute over proposed transmission lines in Victoria's central highlands is a test case that could have ramifications for the state's transition to renewable energy.

The words piss off AusNet" have been mown into a hill at Blampied, near Daylesford, for almost two years. They serve as a billboard for local resentment toward the proposed western renewables link, a transmission line intended to carry wind and solar-powered energy from a power station in Bulgana in western Victoria to Sydenham in Melbourne's north-west, where it is expected to power the equivalent of 500,000 homes.

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