Rethink NTx: Protecting Our Agricultural Future and Regional Heritage PLEASE ACT TODAY
A major high-voltage infrastructure project is currently being planned that will significantly alter the northern face of the Barossa Valley.
Proposed by ElectraNet, the Northern Transmission Project (known as NTx) involves constructing a new transmission line from the Greater Adelaide Region to Whyalla. Astonishingly, ElectraNet want to send this transmission line north via the Barossa Valley and its districts. This Barossa Valley route (known as Corridor 5) places an industrial footprint directly into high value viticultural and agricultural zones.
If allowed to proceed, Corridor 5 will see a procession of heavy-industrial transmission towers constructed directly across premium grape-growing areas. This includes Koonunga Hill; an internationally renowned landmark and a name synonymous with world-class viticulture. The scale of these structures is staggering—standing up to 75 metres tall, they threaten to permanently alter our iconic, globally recognized rural vistas.
Beyond the towers themselves, there is deep concern in the community about associated issues including impact on tourism, bio-security concerns, electrical noise pollution (corona hum) and restrictions to on-going agricultural and viticultural farming. Additionally, the NTx project prompts questions about wider industrial developments across regional South Australia.
The burden of this state-scale transmission project is falling squarely on the shoulders of many multi-generational family farms, properties built and nurtured over generations by hard-working regional South Australians. In some devastating instances, local farming families are facing the reality of more than thirty proposed transmission towers slicing across their properties. While ElectraNet is in direct discussions with landowners whose titles are explicitly on the path, adjacent neighbours sitting right on Corridor 5's doorstep are being left entirely uncontacted.
We are calling on our community to voice their concerns about the NTx project. Investigations are currently underway to determine how this development interacts with the Character Preservation (Barossa Valley) Act 2012, but as a community, we must seek to protect the unique character of the Barossa Valley and districts.
WHAT CAN YOU DO? Voice your disapproval and stand with our community!
If you wish to protect the integrity of our farming districts and support the families who care for them, you are invited to make your voice heard through three simple avenues:
1. Log Your Official Objection: View the interactive corridor map and pin your objections to Corridor 5 directly on the ElectraNet feedback portal .
2. Notify the NTx Working Committee: Send a copy of your opposition, property location, and specific impacts to the committee’s central hub at rethinkntx@gmail.com. Because ElectraNet map submissions can be hidden from public view, it is vital the Working Committee keeps an independent database of everyone affected so we can launch a powerful, coordinated community response.
3. Join the BRRA: To stand as a truly united region, join the Barossa Regional Residents Association (BRRA). To strengthen our voice—not just for the Rethink NTx project, but for all future battles to safeguard our broader districts—we encourage everyone to visit our website and become a member.