Residents say substation will 'ruin community'

On Monday, January 29, a meeting was held at Eureka MP Michaela Settle's office between residents, City of Ballarat councillors, six Powercor representatives and about 15 community members, according to a resident who attended the meeting.

In November 2023, the energy company announced a substation would be built in East Ballarat at 203 York Street.

While the land has been owned by the company since the 1970s, residents had been petitioning against the build given the residential area now around the land.

Further concerns were raised when the design came out for the $30 million substation which showed high fences.

The community were offered to input on design as well as $2 million community benefits package which included payments for neighbouring homes, funds for solar panels for nearby residents and funds to a community project.

In December 2023, after concerns were raised about the site, Powercor said they would evaluate other locations with two sites being offered by City of Ballarat council.

Days after the closed meeting, Powercor announced proposed alternative sites were unsuitable.

The two sites are Yarramie Court in Mitchell Park, which would cost an extra $22 million, or the La Trobe Street saleyards site, which would cost an extra $16 million.

Jenny Paterson, who has been fighting against the location of the substation for a year, said she was disappointed by the meeting.

"Residents were blindsided by these announcements, but acquitted themselves very well asking many pertinent questions about the placement of this huge monstrosity in amongst our homes, which we again feel are not answered. In fact I think the community was treated with disdain once again," she said.

Ms Paterson said she had been informed a substation could be hooked into a 66kv power line anywhere but a Powercor spokesperson said this wasn't the case.

"It's incorrect that zone substations can just be connected anywhere into our 66kV network as different areas of our network have differing capacity and demand," she said.

"Some, like the 66kV along York Street, has the capacity to support a zone substation without any significant upgrades.

"Others would require significant upgrades to enable a connection as was determined for the Yarramie Court site. This is why our network planning team undertook a detailed site analysis of the proposed sites put forward by the council to determine their suitability."

The reason behind not being able to move the substation to the saleyard was due to a lack of infrastructure.

Additional costs would come from an extra 30 kilometres of new 22kV powerlines and extra infrastructure at existing substations.

The Yarramie Court site would cost an extra $22 million, with the overall project cost estimated at $74 million. If the site was used, the main driver for these additional costs is the need for us to build an extra 22 kilometres of new 66kV powerlines, impacting approximately 900 residential properties across Ballarat.

Ms Settle said the meeting was organised after she was approached by residents.

"Local residents contacted me looking for some help on the proposed York Street substation. They wanted alternative sites investigated and to meet with decision makers from Powercor," she said.

"This week we met with the executive director of corporate affairs and the head of network planning from Powercor. They told us that alternative sites weren't financially viable. We have asked for more detail on the reasons behind that decision. I will make sure that residents get that information."

Powercor is owned by Cheung Kong Holdings based in Hong Kong.

Ballarat mayor Des Hudson and deputy mayor Peter Eddy attended the Monday meeting.

A Powercor spokeswoman said the company continue to engage with the community, having already held two community information sessions.

"We've got two further community information sessions that will be held later this month," she said.

"We will continue to to engage with with the community and be as be open and transparent about our project and decision making."

More community consultation sessions will be held on Thursday, February 22 from 4pm to 6pm, and Saturday, February 24 from 10am to 12pm at the York Conference Room at Sovereign Park Motor Inn on Main Road.

The critical facility, which Powercor says is needed to support a growing Ballarat, will be built at 203 York Street, Ballarat East and will be operating by the 2025-26 summer.