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The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is a complex and lengthy document. In order to deliver a meaningful, community-centred reflection of impacted residents’ concerns, a substantial amount of time and effort was required, but not provided.

The main requirement of the EIS was to provide an assessment of the environmental (economic, social, cultural and physical) impacts from the construction, operation, maintenance and decommissioning of the proposed transmission line (TL) and substation, and to duly consider alternatives to the proposal carried forward. Ultimately this document is to be used to form the basis of a Ministerial designation of land for community infrastructure.

The Least Cost Planning (LCP) Approach originated in the electricity industry in the US in the 1980’s [note 7] and has been applied to the water and transport sectors in Australia. The principle of LCP is that customers do not actually need electricity; instead they require the services that are provided by this commodity. In [...]

Demand management consists of analysing and identifying the drivers of demand, the main uses of power and the policies for reducing or stabilising energy demand. Listed below are examples of demand management programs:

Installation of smart meters and variable pricing for different times of day (estimated 10-15% saving) [note 9]
In California, the peak period pricing reduced [...]

The main sources of alternative renewable energy are accessible through mature and available technologies. The recent announcement of Federal Government’s Mandatory Renewable Energy Target of 20% by 2020 should provide a significant boost to this sector and encourage investment. Since external environmental costs are not currently factored into fossil fuel based power generation the renewable [...]