Our purpose and mission
Energy Grid Alliance exists to ensure electricity transmission planning is transparent, fair, and community-led.
We advocate for planning processes that genuinely engage regional communities, protect the environment, and deliver a net benefit to all stakeholders — not just the energy market.
For too long, transmission planning has been dictated from the top down, leaving communities in the dark about decisions that profoundly affect their land, environment, and way of life. We’re here to change that.
We work to ensure:
- Communities are authentically engaged in decisions that affect them — through education, advocacy, and increased awareness of what genuine engagement looks like, aligned with the IAP2 Quality Assurance Standard and Code of Ethics.
- Network operators are held accountable for their environmental obligations and their responsibility to deliver fair, just outcomes for all impacted stakeholders.
- Lessons from other industries and early adopters of best design practices are shared widely, raising the bar for how transmission infrastructure is planned and delivered.
What we do:
- Build strategic relationships with Transmission Network Service Providers (TNSPs), peak bodies like Energy Networks Australia, and regulators to influence change from within the system — while also holding it to account when it fails communities.
- Educate and organise — helping communities understand the transmission industry, their rights, and how to influence outcomes in ways that centre their needs and values.
- Improve industry practice by providing insight and guidance on how to engage communities meaningfully, anticipate risk, and share benefits more equitably.
- Strengthen community capacity to scrutinise, question, and shape decisions — developing resources and frameworks that empower people to engage effectively and assert their rights.
- Pursue regulatory reform, identifying openings in policy and planning processes to embed improved engagement and benefit-sharing as standard industry practice.
- Stay across developments in the renewable energy and transmission sectors — particularly the Australian Energy Market Operator’s Integrated System Plan (ISP) — and use our insight to influence national conversations and outcomes.
- Contribute to reports, submissions, and research that drive evidence-based policy, planning, and advocacy for better transmission outcomes.
Why it matters
Australia is undergoing a once-in-a-generation transformation of its electricity grid. The transition to renewables is essential — but how we do it matters.
We must stop treating communities as collateral damage in the race to decarbonise. Instead, we must build a planning system that respects landscape, culture, environment, and people.
Energy Grid Alliance sees this as an opportunity to establish best planning practices that embed strict environmental and community protections — including setback requirements — into planning permits and assessment processes. When done right, transmission planning can deliver real benefits, not just faster connections.
We’re here to make sure it’s done right.