Locals raise concerns about a proposed lithium battery project in the Kiewa Valley
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00:00 I'm curious to know who actually will own the site.
00:05 You're talking about Minch Renewables,
00:07 but as far as I can read, Minch is only the developer.
00:11 You've got a company called Infratil,
00:13 who is a New Zealand based company,
00:15 which is listed in New Zealand.
00:17 Their share price is okay, but it's certainly struggling.
00:20 But who's the actual underwriter for the whole thing overall?
00:25 Is it the Victorian government that's actually paying
00:27 for all the land to be purchased across all these
00:30 renewable energy zones throughout Victoria?
00:32 There's seven separate zones throughout Victoria.
00:35 Each of these will have a base
00:38 and the battery and the solar system.
00:41 The one at Meadow Creek, Tim, is 550 hectares.
00:46 You think about that in land value.
00:48 Your land is worth, what, 10, 15K an acre?
00:52 This is 400 acres.
00:53 That's the land value alone.
00:55 So my question is, who's actually buying it?
00:58 Is it us as a taxpayer that's buying all this land
01:01 across the state?
01:02 - So mostly my understanding is that
01:07 they're leasing the land.
01:08 And when you read deep into the reports,
01:12 and I've done a fair bit of it,
01:14 you will see that they say
01:17 the Victorian energy consumer will pay.
01:21 So it's simple mathematics, really.
01:23 These companies come in, put up the initial investments.
01:28 And I think Ian can maybe speak to this
01:32 about one company that he spoke to
01:34 'cause he had the conversation.
01:36 You know, like, well, how do you get your money back?
01:39 And he said, "Mate, we'll get our money back in two years."
01:42 So you are all paying for that.
01:46 Like, we are all paying for that with our electricity prices
01:49 because companies like this and like Infotrel,
01:52 they don't invest unless they're going to make money.
01:56 Now, to be fair, our government can't do it
01:58 because they can't afford it.
02:00 So this is the way that it has to go
02:03 if we wanna go down this path,
02:05 but they will make money.
02:07 And I think there's a question.
02:09 Sometimes they will be paid to take power out of the grid
02:14 because the renewable energy makes it a little bit unstable
02:18 and they have to sort of level it out.
02:20 And when that happens, they pay them $1,000 per megawatt hour
02:25 that they take out of the grid.
02:26 And sometimes when they put it back in,
02:29 they get paid also $15,000 per megawatt hour.
02:33 So you do the maths.
02:34 - On the end of the day, the consumer,
02:38 that's all of us who use electricity,
02:40 which I think is everyone in this room,
02:41 will end up paying.
02:42 So the chances of our energy bills going down
02:47 in the foreseeable future as interest rates rise
02:50 and they are going to continue to rise
02:52 and as inflation rises, our energy costs will not decrease,
02:57 especially with projects like this across the board.
03:02 This is something you need to think about laterally,
03:04 not just on this singular project,
03:06 but the projects right across Victoria.
03:09 It is gonna have a major impact on your hip pocket
03:12 for the rest of your days of your lives,
03:14 your children and your grandchildren, not just you.
03:18 Thank you.
03:19 (audience applauding)
03:22 [BLANK_AUDIO]