Rachael McIntyre was attending the Wimmera Machinery Field Days a few weeks ago when she came across a brochure that alerted her to the possibility of a massive powerline being run through her farm. 

Not clear on how this would impact her business, Ms McIntyre, who is the secretary of St Arnaud Young Farmers group, reached out to other farmers and discovered they were also unaware of the plan.

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) is planning to build 500 kilovolt-ampere powerlines through the Northern Grampians to Echuca.

Ms McIntyre said she was "appalled" by the lack of transparency.

"We hadn't been contacted by the AEMO saying that this was happening," Ms McIntyre said.

Expecting 'straight answers'

Northern Grampians Shire Council and the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) organised a meeting in St Arnaud last week to discuss landholders' concerns.

Ms Mclntyre and other farmers who attended said their questions went unanswered.

"A lot of people went in not knowing much and, to be completely honest with you, a lot of people left not knowing much," she said.

Northern Grampians Shire Mayor Kevin Erwin also expressed concern with how the meeting was handled.

"I was expecting some straight answers and it was very disappointing; we know as much now as we did before the meeting," Mr Erwin said.

VicGrid promises to come back with answers

Authorities say consultation is in the early stages, and there will be more opportunities for communities to be involved as the project progresses.

Stakeholders have until Wednesday April 5 to make submissions as part of the consultation process, but Kevin Erwin said there was not enough information available to make an educated response.

A spokesperson for VicGrid, which coordinates the overarching planning and development of Victoria's renewable energy, said it was engaging with the community earlier than in previous years because of feedback from stakeholders.

VicGrid CEO Alistair Parker, who also attended the community meeting, said in a statement to the ABC he "clearly heard the issues of the community".

"Transmission projects like VNI West are the key to delivering affordable and reliable renewable energy, storage capacity, and system security … as Victoria moves away from ageing and increasingly unreliable coal-fired power."

Last week's meeting came just hours after protests in Ballarat over the Western Renewables Link project. 

What is VNI West?

The Victorian to New South Wales Interconnector West (VNI West) project is a proposed transmission line running from Bulgana, near Stawell, to Dinawan, in the NSW Riverina.

It aims to connect existing and future renewable energy projects to the grid.

In February, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) formally backed Option 5, which proposes taking this route, in a consultation report.

AEMO's role is to manage electricity and gas systems and markets across Australia. It said, at the time, this option had the fewest environmental and social constraints of the seven choices identified.

According to Rachael McIntyre, the compensation suggested on Tuesday will not last long enough.

"There were numbers thrown around last night of $8,000 per kilometre for 25 years," she said.

"These powerlines are going to be here for a lot longer than 25 years and when that compensation window is up these powerlines are going to be affecting generations of farmers, of communities.

"It's simply not good enough."

A total of 15 community drop-in sessions and webinars are being held, and feedback can also be left at the email VNIWestRITT@aemo.com.au.