A move to pay landowners $200,000 per square kilometre for energy infrastructure imposed on their properties has been labelled a slap in the face.
Residents living in the path of several projects in regional Victoria have previously protested against high-voltage power lines and towers more than 80 metres high and are calling for infrastructure to be placed underground instead.
The projects are part of a wider move to shift the state to renewable energy as remaining coal-fired power stations are set to close over the next 12 years.
The first residents to receive payments will be those impacted by VNI West, likely connecting Ballarat in central Victoria with Kerang in the north and across to NSW, and the Western Renewables Link corridor from the Melbourne suburb of Sydenham to near Stawell in the state’s west….