Understanding Australian Transmission Projects Hub

Many regional communities and landholders have suggested undergrounding new transmission lines to avoid visual and other impacts. Where undergrounding has not been progressed, some have expressed concern that this option was not fully investigated or given adequate consideration.

Our #BetterTogether Evaluating Transmission Undergrounding initiative builds on previous collaborations between transmission businesses, community and agricultural representatives to deliver the Better Practice Landholder + Community Engagement Guide and Better Practice Social Licence Guideline.

Specifically, the Better Practice Social Licence Guideline included this commitment from transmission collaborators:

Consider undergrounding when it is a viable option as part of community and landholder consultation. Investigation reports and supporting analysis, including the challenges, benefits and impacts of overhead compared to underground transmission designs from a landholder, community, environmental, technical, and cost perspective should be completed and made publicly available. In some instances, it may be preferable for research to be conducted by an independent party with appropriate expertise. It is also important that this information be well circulated with communities, this could include through direct community and landholder engagement and project newsletters.

The initiative kicked off in mid-2023. In June 2024, a comprehensive Collaborators Insights Report was delivered with the assistance of third party, WSP. It provided an independent exploration of the technical evidence and social perspectives relevant to decisions on whether transmission lines are constructed overhead or built underground. Its purpose is to offer information and insights to contribute to a foundation of shared understanding.

Building from this foundation, Trusted Voice Collaborators co-developed a transparent, public information hub on topics important to communities impacted by transmission developments. Through a series of collaborative workshops, resources were created to address knowledge gaps and topics of interest to inform landholders and communities about overhead and underground transmission infrastructure development.

These resources have been created to help landholders and community members learn more about underground and overhead transmission projects and decision-making processes.