1 March 2021.
AgForce has welcomed new plans to strengthen engagement between agriculture and the energy industry.
The #BetterTogether Better Landowner Engagement initiative was launched earlier this year after Australian farmers and rural communities voiced concerns that the policy and planning process for large-scale electricity infrastructure left landowners and people in regional areas out of the conversation, and that engagement came too late for any real say in how the infrastructure could be delivered.
It sees the agriculture industry, the energy industry and regulators working together to design guidelines and better practice models on engagement between transmission businesses and farmers.
Co-collaborators include Powerlink Queensland, TransGrid, APA together with the National Farmers Federation, NSW Farmers Association, Queensland Farmers’ Federation, Victorian Farmers Federation, the Clean Energy Council, Energy Networks Australia and AEMO.
The team is also exploring early engagement in AEMO’s Integrated System Plan (ISP) and related transmission issues for landowners, with agriculture pushing for good practice guidelines on how to discuss compensation for landowners.
In addition, Energy Networks Australia has recently produced information on the role of transmission in the delivery of electricity to our communities.