The Castle's Darryl Kerrigan reckons powerlines are a reminder of man's ability to generate electricity.
And as Australia ambles towards a net zero future, we're going to need a lot more.
"There is a very rapid change now from coal to solar and wind," said Professor Andrew Blakers, an expert in sustainable energy systems from ANU.
While farmers benefit from having wind or solar projects on their properties, hosting transmission lines comes with little benefit or choice.
For Andrea Sturgess and her husband Paul, the news that a transmission line was being proposed through their property was shattering.
"We actually got the letter from Humelink, TransGrid that they're coming through with bigger powerlines," Ms Sturgess said.
Their farm, near Batlow in NSW, was devastated by the Black Summer bushfires.
The couple run cattle as well as harvesting eucalyptus oil, but with little income since the fires, they'd planned to build holiday cabins. Those plans are now on hold.
"We will lose either way, whichever way they come over that line.
"We're probably going to lose a lot, like our distillery or home, the garden, everything.
"We are hoping that it's going to be on the Batlow side … but we still will lose the cattle yards.
Ms Sturgess is among a group of landholders fighting transmission company Transgrid to stop the line that's being built to carry more hydro energy from Snowy 2.0.
"It's really consumed our lives. You know, you can't sort of do anything because you just don't know whether it's going to be here.
Widespread problem
It's a similar story in the Upper Hunter, where Transgrid has proposed a high-voltage line through prime agricultural land on the Merriwa Cassilis plateau.
Farmer Peter Campbell is among a large group of landholders fighting the proposal.
"You can't pay us enough. Transgrid and the government could not pay us enough money to host this power line and we will defend our land," Mr Campbell said.
The line is being built to connect the state's first Renewable Energy Zone in the central west and will transport three gigawatts of renewable power back into the grid.
"We acknowledge that there is a transition. But what we're saying is the line needs to go in the right place," Mr Campbell said.
"We were sold a line at one of our working groups that we will get $140 off our energy bill. That's a bitter pill to swallow for landholders that are going to host an 80-metre wide easement across their property and not be compensated properly for it."
Need for reform
When farmers host wind turbines or solar panels, they're paid a substantial annual fee, neighbours can also receive compensation and often community funds are set up.
In comparison, the law in most states only allows transmission companies to make one-off payments to landholders, which many believe don't accurately reflect the true value of the land. And the rules allow for compulsory acquisition.
Professor Andrew Blakers said the whole system needed an overhaul.
"We have rules for the construction of new transmission that was fine for coal power stations several decades ago, but it's absolutely not fine for solar and wind."
Transgrid's Executive Manager of Works Delivery Craig Stallan said he was open to changing the way landholders were paid.
"We understand that landholders would prefer a different process of payment rather than an upfront capital payment," he said.
Transgrid engaged an independent expert to review their community engagement and have taken on all 20 recommendations.
"We will continue to improve that engagement as we go about all of the major projects," Mr Stallan said.
Money not enough
But landholders told the ABC they were still unhappy with the consultation process and even with better compensation, they would fight the developments.
"We've deliberately not talked about compensation. You can't pay us enough to have a compensation conversation," farmer Peter Campbell said.
Those impacted want all other options on the table, including undergrounding lines and putting them through public land before agricultural land.
But Narromine farmer and renewables consultant Karin Stark said she disagreed and that transmission lines should go through agricultural land because it's already cleared.
"What we need to get right is the compensation for those farmers and understanding the impacts of having those easements on their properties."
Government intervention
If Australia wants to get to net zero by 2050, the federal government needed to do more to connect renewables, Professor Blakers said.
"We need to accelerate the transmission rollout, basically the moment a new powerline is completed there's a rush of wind and solar companies to saturate the capacity of that line as soon as they can," he said.
Federal Labor has promised $20 billion to create a government=owned entity that will "rebuild and modernise the grid".
The federal government says it has committed $250 million to transmission projects, but Energy Minister Angus Taylor ruled out a national body to update network infrastructure.
"There's lots of people who have said for a long while, all planning should be taken over by the federal government," Mr Taylor said.
"But that would be a massive change in the way our federation works."
Grid modernisation
It's not just the high voltage lines that need updating — the distribution network is designed to be one-way.
And Karin Stark said that means there's little benefit for farmers with mid=scale renewables to feed back into the grid.
"We need to modernise the grid to enable more farmers to be able to earn a secondary income from these types of developments," she said.
Ms Stark and her husband use solar to power their cotton irrigation, but when they're not irrigating it goes to waste.
"Our 500 kilowatts of solar that we have out in the paddock, it's not connected to the grid, because our grid is quite constrained at the moment.
But she said it's all about getting the energy transformation right.
"Things need to be designed in a way that considers agriculture and considers the land," she said.
"But also we need to be innovative in the future to think about how we can combine these types of energy development as well as farming in positive ways."
