Transgrid welcomes the Australian and NSW governments’ announcement of major investment in essential transmission infrastructure to accelerate Australia’s clean energy future.
Transgrid CEO Brett Redman said the recently announced $7.8 billion package boosts confidence in the country’s energy transition and the expedited construction needed to provide customers with more reliable, secure, and cheap electricity.
“Transgrid is building the energy superhighway that millions of Australians will rely on and this commitment by government provides the certainty needed to fast track delivery of up to $20 billion worth of private sector investment in transmission in the coming decade,” Redman stated.
Redman welcomed the funding of the Transgrid projects HumeLink and VNI West as well as the projects Sydney Ring – Hunter Transmission Project and Sydney Ring – Southern Sydney Ring, which are essential for connecting new renewables to the grid, bringing down electricity costs for consumers, and lowering Australia’s carbon emissions.
Redman added that it would help Transgrid with its plan of works strategy to group important transmission projects into a single, ongoing construction schedule.
“We’re facing increasingly tough global competition for critical resources and this funding enables considerable efficiencies to be gained through combined procurement of materials and secure pipeline opportunities for workers across multiple projects,” Redman said.
According to Transgrid, bundling EnergyConnect, VNI West, and HumeLink will benefit consumers in the following ways:
- Capex savings of up to $500 million were realised through procurement, labour, and avoided inflation charges;
- Allowing low-cost renewable electricity to connect to the grid to provide consumers with cheaper energy; and
- Putting downward pressure on wholesale energy prices, which will be passed on to customers.
HumeLink and VNI West will provide over a billion dollars in benefits that much outweigh their expenditures.
The package includes $4.7 billion from the Commonwealth’s Rewiring the Nation initiative and $3.1 billion from the NSW Transmission Acceleration Facility for eight significant transmission and renewable energy zone projects.
“This is the best example of the Team Australia approach to securing cheap, reliable, clean energy for Australians as efficiently as possible,” Redman said.
He stated that the sooner Transgrid develops these transmission projects, the sooner it can reduce the cost-of-living challenges that Australians face on a daily basis.
Endgame Economics calculated in a June 2022 research that a one-year delay in transmission investment will raise a residential consumer’s bill by an average of $327 during the period 2026-40. A four-year delay would cost average residential customers $1,791 more over the same time period.
“Building now to facilitate the connection of new renewable generation and storage is the best path forward for consumers, who will reap the rewards of a rapid acceleration for generations to come,” Redman added.
