Police now required to escort power companies into some protest hotspots

Police now have to escort the contractors working for the power company which has caused the most upset to landowners and rural communities.

There was another standoff between farmers and community members in the Wimmera yesterday where police had to be called.

Transmission Company Victoria now says police will be called on each time its work crews travel to their country work sites because of continued "disruptions" and to ensure "identified work zones remain secured for the safety of machinery operators and the public".

And it came on the day where TCV hoped to break the impasse with farmland owners by offering a further sweetener to allow them access onto their private land by lifting cash payments from $10,000 to up to $50,000.

That's just for allowing access for their investigation, not to build powerlines.

TCV has almost completed its investigations to determine soil conditions and rock features across the draft corridor of the proposed VNI West project.

TCV has met with repeated protest action as it works to refine a route for its 400km VNI West project from Bulgana (near Ararat) across the Murray River near Kerang to connect with the national grid.

Yesterday's blockade of a drilling rig between Marnoo and Stawell was on public road reserve, not private land.

It is not the first time police have been called protests with TCV and also AusNet..

TCV, and AusNet, which is charged with building the 190km Western Renewables Link from Melbourne's outer suburbs to Bulgana, have attracted all the heat over the past few years.

AusNet has a licence to legally force access onto private land.

TCV is currently in the process of applying for a transmission licence from the Victorian government but today has to seek the co-operation of landowners, which many times are refused.

Most fear the rural protests will dangerously escalate if power companies were to force their way onto farms.

TCV is an offshoot of the Australian Energy Market Operator which says it is "committed to treating all landholders with respect and decency, and to ensure all property owners and farmers are fairly recognised and compensated where transmission is required to be located on their land".

Long-time Victorian electricity provider Powercor has just applied for one of these transmission licences to allow it to build transmission infrastructure "within its current distribution footprint".

That footprint is the western, central and northern parts of the state.

Powercor said it would do things differently.

"What sets us apart from others in the market is our team of more than 2000 people, working from 14 depots and offices across western and northern Victoria," the company said.

"It has been our practice when building new distribution lines to negotiate with landowners and reach a mutual agreement rather than relying on compulsory land access powers.

"This is an approach we intend to continue when building new transmission infrastructure. We will also, where practical, seek to minimise the impact on landowners by using existing land access rights, such as constructing lines in road reserves as an alternative to crossing private land.

"The need for empathetic and authentic engagement with communities and other stakeholders is understood across all levels of our business.

"Our stakeholder engagement specialists are embedded across our major projects and customer teams, leading and facilitating effective on-the-ground engagement with customers. Their deep knowledge and expertise will be used to identify and support engagement with those communities living near any major transmission projects."

Powercor said it would only consider using statutory land access powers (if granted) as a "last resort".

The public is invited to comment on Powercor's plans here.

Windfarm operator WestWind Energy has announced it wants to build around 100km of transmission lines across the Wimmera to connect renewable energy projects to the national grid.

The lines would run from Warracknabeal to Bulgana, near Ararat although no exact route has yet been finalised.

WestWind's proposed transmission line would comprise twin monopole lines, 20-40 metres lower than the lattice towers proposed for other high voltage projects which are typically 60-80 metres high.

"Using monopoles will minimise the impact on landholders' farming operations and reduce visual impacts," the power company said.

Much of the upset in rural communities has been caused by the failure of governments and power companies to push harder to fund undergrounding of the lines.

WestWind said it had commissioned "a detailed study' of undergrounding its proposed line.

"It found the underground solution ... could cost from 5 to 10 times more than an above ground option," the company said.

While there is the usual offer of compensation for those directly impacted, expected to involve about 100 farms, plus a community fund, WestWind Energy says it wants to take a different approach to others.

"We understand that the project will only succeed if landholders and hosting communities are the first people to see and feel the benefits," the company said.

"We will work with all relevant stakeholders along the route - landholders, neighbours, the community - to determine the best ways to share the benefits from the project at both a local and broader level."

The company said the compensation "will provide a stable addition to existing income streams for the property and help protect farms against impacts of drought and swings in commodity prices".

Eligible neighbours (with a kilometre) would receive free electricity for 25 years.

The actual route is yet to be decided as negotiations to secure agreements with landowners have only just begun.