PVTIME – The Victorian government has selected a preferred route for a new high-voltage transmission line to connect Australia’s first offshore wind farms to the national grid. This marks a significant milestone in the state’s renewable energy infrastructure programme.
The route, which is around 60km long, will traverse Gippsland, linking the Loy Yang switchyard to a proposed terminal station at Giffard. The exact landfall point for the offshore cables is yet to be determined. The selection of this roughly 200-metre-wide corridor initiates the detailed engineering design and final planning phase.
Victoria has set ambitious targets to achieve at least 2GW of offshore wind capacity by 2032, increasing to 4GW by 2035 and potentially reaching 9GW by 2040. Delivering the transmission infrastructure required to accommodate this volume of offshore generation is a critical priority. An environmental impact statement is scheduled for public consultation in early 2027, with preliminary construction expected to begin later that year.
Energy Minister Jacqueline Doyle has confirmed that the chosen route has the backing of local landowners and community members, and has promised to collaborate with them to establish Gippsland as a centre for offshore wind development. The state government anticipates approximately $20 billion in total investment from the offshore wind sector, of which $3.1 billion will be invested in the Gippsland region.
The transmission programme is under political and community scrutiny. The opposition Coalition has pledged to cancel the VNI West interconnector to New South Wales, and has placed the Western Renewables Link and the broader state grid plan under review. Premier Ben Carroll has announced a review of the project’s costs, which is expected to conclude by the end of 2026. However, the project is unlikely to be halted during this period.
Offshore wind developers have expressed concern that the Coalition’s policy of requiring renewable projects to be located at least 2km from existing grid infrastructure could also apply to submarine cables. This could affect the planned route for the Giffard substation.
The community group Gippsland Better Powerline supports the need for new transmission capacity, but is campaigning for the line from Giffard to be placed underground rather than overhead. Group chair Kiara Bott stated that discussions with network operator VicGrid had revealed no comprehensive cost comparison between overhead and underground options. She called for an assessment of the costs associated with planning for underground routing from the outset, including provision for future capacity upgrades.
