Thi Thu Nguyen was on Thursday sentenced to 16 months in prison after she pleaded guilty to cultivating a commercial quantity of cannabis and electricity theft.

The County Court at Ballarat was told the Howe Street grow house was a very sophisticated set-up.

Police removed 234 kilograms of cannabis - 10 times the commercial quantity - on October 31, 2016.

More than $26,000 worth of electricity had been bypassed.

Nguyen attended the property with her boyfriend, Duy Cao who was receiving $3000 a week for his work.

Nguyen's role included driving Cao to the property in her car and helping him to harvest and tend to the crops.

Nguyen told police she did not know what the plants were, but Judge Michael McInerney did not accept this explanation.

Defence barrister David Gray had earlier told the court his client was young, had no prior convictions, her visa had been cancelled and she wanted to return to Vietnam as soon as possible.

The court was told Nguyen would be deported once released from prison.

Mr Gray urged the court to consider parity with her co-accused who was sentenced to 18 months' jail in August.

Judge McInerney told Nguyen if she had not pleaded guilty, she would have received three years' jail with a minimum of two years.

Nguyen has already served 409 days in custody, which leaves about three months before she is released into the community.

A Vietnamese interpreter explained the details of the sentencing hearing to Nguyen.

She appeared content as she was led back into custody from the dock.