Energy Grid Alliance

29/10/2025

Australia’s energy market has shifted from public service to profit. Rising costs show a system built for investment, not consumers or affordability.

Transmission Could Deliver a Clean Energy Future if the Right Solutions were Deployed Australia’s energy system is still called a “market,” but it no longer behaves like one. The original intent behind market reform in the 1990s was to deliver electricity as an essential service at the least c...

21/10/2025

AEMO’s plan failed — and now it’s blaming consumers.

The latest comments from AEMO’s CEO frame household solar owners as part of the problem, claiming they’re not sharing enough of their power to support the grid. That’s not just unfair — it’s deflection.

The truth is, the Integrated System Plan was built around massive, centralised transmission projects that are now running years late, billions over budget, and losing community support. Rather than admitting those structural failures, AEMO is shifting the burden to the very people who have done the most to decarbonise Australia’s grid — households.

Australians have led this transition with their own money. Rooftop solar already supplies over half of daytime demand. Yet the system still treats distributed energy as an afterthought — controlled by retailers, constrained by outdated market rules, and burdened by poor design and lack of trust.

It’s not households slowing the transition. It’s a planning model that refused to evolve.

Households need to share batteries for the benefit of the grid to avoid increasing the cost of energy transition, energy market operator CEO Daniel Westerman warned.

22/09/2025

For the better part of a decade we’ve heard the well-worn phrase, “There’s no transition without transmission”. A phrase often thrown around by lobby groups with absolutely no clue what they were even talking about.

AEMO’s ISP promised it in spades, yet our major transmission projects are awash with cost blowouts and delays.

Energy Source & Distribution asks three experts for their take on the state of transmission in the transition, and the best path forward.

https://esdnews.com.au/gridlocked-the-state-of-transmission-in-the-transition/by

Energy Source & Distribution asks three experts for their take on the state of transmission in the transition, and the best path forward.

11/09/2025

Thank you Bev McArthur MP for standing up for your community

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bev-mcarthur-mp-2316112b_i-am-strongly-opposed-to-labors-vicgrid-activity-7369621654995410944-OQFJ

⚡ I am strongly opposed to Labor’s VicGrid Reform Bill. This legislation hands unprecedented power to a single state-controlled body, removes democratic oversight, and strips away the property rights of Victorians. Under this bill, VicGrid becomes planner, developer, regulator and enforcer. It i...

02/09/2025

EGAs forensic evaluation of the Western Renewables Link (WRL) Environmental Effects Statement (EES), submitted today, has identified profound and systemic failures across all key assessment areas, rendering the EES documentation, in its entirety, unfit for the purpose of statutory decision-making.

The proponent, AusNet, has not conducted the robust, transparent, or integrated investigation required by the Environment Effects Act 1978 and the project-specific EES Scoping Requirements.

The critical deficiencies are not isolated technical issues but are interconnected, foundational flaws that invalidate the proponent's conclusions and demonstrate a process that is non-compliant with its legal and ethical obligations.

Read the executive overview and download the full report here:
https://www.energygridalliance.com.au/forensic-analysis-of-the-wrl-ees-2025/

Transmission Could Deliver a Clean Energy Future if the Right Solutions were Deployed Consolidated Executive Overview, Conclusion and Recommendations This forensic evaluation of the Western Renewables Link (WRL) Environmental Effects Statement (EES) has identified profound and systemic failures acro...

28/08/2025

https://arr.news/2025/08/27/vff-slams-vicgrid-power-play/

The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) has written to state MPs to vote down the contentious VicGrid Amendment Bill that would pave the way for police-backed powers to force entry onto farms and slap landholders with fines of up to $12,100.

19/08/2025

Unable to win social licence, the government is legislating the power to proceed without it.

The VicGov's new VicGrid Bill isn't a shortcut for the energy transition. It's a masterclass in how to destroy it.

Our new forensic report proves the projects behind this Bill have already failed, thanks to a process that ignores communities. Now, the government wants to make that failed model the law.

The Bill:
🔎 Replaces negotiation with FORCED ENTRY powers.
🔎 Guarantees SECRECY with an exemption from FOI laws.
🔎 Destroys the we urgently need to build our renewable future.

This approach guarantees conflict & delays. We've published the full story and sent it to every politician who will vote on this.

Read our report here:
https://www.energygridalliance.com.au/reform-erodes-trust-and-social-licence/

18/08/2025

VicGrid’s $8B plan is just the tip of the iceberg. With sunk project costs, Victorians face $25–28B in transmission costs alone.

Consumers lose, vested interests win.

The transmission strategy in Victoria is driven by politics, profits, and vested interests, not consumers, not climate, not the public interest.

Unless governments radically change course, Victorians will be paying for decades of overpriced infrastructure, most of which delivers little more than ribbon-cutting photo opportunities.

And this is just about transmission!

We need a Plan B.

https://www.energygridalliance.com.au/avalanche-of-costs-consumers-cannot-afford/

Transmission Could Deliver a Clean Energy Future if the Right Solutions were Deployed The Headline Numbers Over the weekend, VicGrid released the final Victorian Transmission Plan (VTP). From the draft, it enlarges several Renewable Energy Zones (REZs) and refreshes capital expenditure figures to ar...

17/08/2025

The economics don’t add up for consumers: transmission companies get guaranteed returns, developers get guaranteed connection, unions get guaranteed jobs, and governments get green headlines. Consumers get the bill, dressed up as “lower wholesale prices.”

And Victoria’s costs aren’t $8 billion. Add to that the cost of the Western renewables link and VNI West and it’s closer to $23 billion. Then don’t forget about Marinus Link and Victoria’s share of that. Will be well over $25 billion just for transmission in this state alone.

Good luck with your electricity bills. And good luck to environmental groups that cheer this on as if it’s purely about climate action — blind to the reality that it’s really ONLY about profits, jobs, and politics.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/aug/17/cost-victoria-expanded-renewable-energy-transmission-plans

Higher energy bills to cover the increased transmission costs could be offset by more renewable energy in the grid, state government says

17/08/2025

From the Victorian Transmission Plan: A $6 billion fairy tale.

This “Final Transmission Plan” claims building more transmission lines avoids $6,050m in emissions. But transmission lines don’t cut pollution — they’re just wires. The only thing they create is more emissions during construction and operation.

Transmission planners should be banned from using this class of benefits.

The $6b figure is cooked up by assuming renewables get built, then handing all the credit to the transmission projects. A credit renewable generators will likely also use. It’s manipulative accounting too often used by the energy market. Marinus have done the exact same thing.

13/08/2025

The VicGrid Stage 2 Reform Bill 2025 isn’t just about building transmission lines — it’s about handing a single government agency sweeping powers with no checks and balances.

⚠️ What’s at stake:
• Your rights – Forced land access without consent
• Transparency – Exempt from Freedom of Information laws
• Accountability – Minister can change rules without oversight
• Our energy future – This model has already caused cost blowouts, delays & community conflict. It’s the “Legislative Endgame of a Failed Process”

⚠️ This Bill will destroy social licence and slow down the very projects it claims to accelerate.

⚠️ Loss of investor confidence, project delays, and cost overruns will put Victoria’s energy transition at risk.

📄 Read the full analysis: https://www.energygridalliance.com.au/national-electricity-victoria-amendment-bill-2025/

Transmission Could Deliver a Clean Energy Future if the Right Solutions were Deployed VicGrid Stage 2 Reform Bill – Review The National Electricity (Victoria) Amendment (VicGrid Stage 2 Reform) Bill 2025 (the Bill) will fundamentally and dangerously alter the governance of electricity transmission...

10/08/2025

Saw this on LinkedIn before, but in true VicGrid form, there’s nothing on their website. If anyone happens to find it, feel free to share the link in the comments.