Marinus Link welcomes a $75 million funding grant from the Australian Government, which underpins an ongoing commitment to deliver the proposed Marinus Link interconnector from Tasmania to mainland Australia, together with the North West Transmission Developments in Tasmania (collectively known as ‘Project Marinus’).
The grant will support the completion of the Project Marinus Design and Approvals phase, through to a Final Investment Decision targeted for 2024.
Marinus Link CEO Bess Clark welcomed the funding commitment and vote of confidence in Project Marinus.
“Marinus Link will help provide everyday Australians with more secure and affordable power by unlocking Tasmania’s abundant, low-cost wind resources and dispatchable hydro energy storage and generation facilities,” Ms Clark said.
“At 1500MW, Marinus Link is about the equivalent size as the former Hazelwood power station in Victoria, and three times the capacity of the existing Tasmania-to-Victoria connector.
“It will have the capacity to transport power for up to 1.5 million homes at any given point in time, ensuring there will always be access to affordable, renewable energy even when the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow.
“We thank the Tasmanian and Australian governments for this important funding and leadership support. The technical planning, stakeholder engagement, economic and environmental assessments, commercial and regulatory work that’s already well underway will continue to enable the project to commence construction in 2025.”
The Australian Energy Market Operator’s (AEMO) Draft 2022 Integrated Systems Plan (ISP) lists Project Marinus as an actionable project in its 30 year optimal development path for electricity investment in the National Electricity Market (NEM).
It confirms the vital role interconnectors, including Marinus Link, and deep, long-duration hydro storage and dispatchable capacity will play in securing Australia’s rapid energy transition.
Marinus Link was again listed this year by Infrastructure Australia as a ‘high priority initiative’ as part of a more interconnected and reliable National Electricity Market.
Background
The $3.5bn ($2021) Project Marinus interconnector is a proposed 1500 megawatt electricity and telecommunications connection between Victoria and Tasmania called Marinus Link, plus supporting transmission network developments in Tasmania’s North West.
Marinus Link involves approximately 255 kilometres of undersea High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) cable and approximately 90 kilometres of underground HVDC cable. It will also include converter stations in Tasmania and Victoria, and approximately 240 kilometres of supporting High Voltage Alternating Current (HVAC) transmission in North West Tasmania, known as the North West Transmission Developments.
Marinus Link will unlock savings of at least 140 million tonnes of CO2 by 2050, the equivalent of taking approximately a million petrol/diesel cars off the road.
1500 megawatts equates to supplying 1.5 million Australian homes with electricity at any given time.