The state’s peak agricultural body says power line payments are an important step towards recognising the losses of rural landowners.
The NSW Government has announced rural landowners would be paid $10,000 a year for 20 years for every kilometre of new transmission lines built on their property – a total of $200,000, with the annual payments indexed to CPI.
NSW Farmers Energy Transition Working Group chair Reg Kidd said while transmission lines were a hot topic for affected landowners, these payments were an important step in recognising the impact energy infrastructure had on farmers.
“Farmers are in the box seat in moving Australia from coal to renewables, with installations and power lines set to criss-cross rural areas, and NSW Farmers has consistently called for recognition of this vital role,” Mr Kidd said.
“Rural landowners are key stakeholders in achieving our targets, and they deserve to be consulted and respected.
“These payments are welcomed to deal with the losses of our rural landowners in productivity and amenity, and for the contribution to both our state and national goals of reducing carbon emissions.”
The scheme – the first of its kind in Australia – aims to support landowners and rural communities who host new transmission infrastructure that connects renewable energy to the grid. It will almost double the average payment landowners currently receive, and the rate of the payments will be calculated in the same way regardless of where a person lives to ensure all landowners are treated equitably under the scheme. Critically, payments under the scheme are separate, and in addition to, the one-off upfront compensation paid to landowners for the acquisition of transmission easements in accordance with the Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Act 1991.
While he supported the new payment scheme, Mr Kidd said government and energy companies should still engage with rural communities early and partner with them in building new infrastructure.
“We know that once you build on – or over – a piece of rural land you drastically reduce its potential productivity, and these impacts on productivity need to be properly recognised and respected,” Mr Kidd said.
“There are projects out there where farmers have been ignored or pitted against one another, and that’s not good enough, we want to see the right thing in the right place – and importantly in the right way – so we can maximise benefit and minimise impact to agricultural production.
“We will not allow this new payment scheme to be used to silence those who are concerned about their property.”
Mr Kidd also said NSW Farmers had made it clear to Energy Co that it was also important that guidelines on the placement of gridline infrastructure were adopted to address the visual impacts on landowners and communities, and on neighbouring properties.
