Australia’s largest energy transmission project, stretching 900 kilometres across New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, is being energised following completion of construction.
Transgrid has announced that the EnergyConnect project is being “fully energised” after the successful completion of construction of the New South Wales (NSW) section of the interconnector that links three state grids for the first time and will integrate multiple renewable energy zones into the national network.
The NSW network operator and delivery partner Elecnor Australia confirmed they have completed construction of 700 km of new transmission lines from Wagga Wagga to the South Australian border with a spur line to Red Cliffs in Victoria, with 1,508 towers and monopoles and 10,385 km of high-voltage conductor cabling.
Transgrid said stage two of EnergyConnect, the 540 km line between Buronga and Wagga Wagga, is now being energized following detailed commissioning checks. The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) will begin its inter-network testing on the stage later this year to confirm the reliability and performance of the new infrastructure.
The first stage of the project, a 160 km line from the South Australian border to Buronga and into Victoria, became operational last year. The South Australian leg of the project, stretching 206 km from the NSW border to Robertstown, was completed in 2023 by ElectraNet.
