The Queensland government has committed $420 million from its 2026-27 budget for the state’s CopperString transmission link, bringing the state’s total planned investment in the project to date to $3.2 billion.
The new line is designed to connect Queensland’s mineral and renewable-rich north and north west regions to the National Electricity Market (NEM) and the project has been a long time coming, having initially been proposed more than a decade ago,
The project was scaled back by the new LNP state government in October last year, due to cost blowouts that saw the original price tag of $1.8 billion explode out to $13.6 billion.
It will now consist of a 330 kV link (which has been scaled back from a planned 500 kV link) that supports transfer capacity of 1.7 gigawatts (GW) and hosting capacity of 2.9 GW.
An initial “Eastern Link” section, running from Hughenden to Townsville, is set to be completed by 2032 and is being prioritised by the current government.
