First concrete poured for 1,500 steel towers in renewable superhighway

The first concrete has been poured at the NSW end of Australia’s largest electricity transmission project, that will install 900km of new poles and wires to provide a vital link between New South Wales, South Australia, and Victoria, to share more renewable energy across the three states.

Network company Transgrid said on Monday that it had started work pouring the first of about 6,000 concrete footings required to support 1,500 steel towers for its part of the massive $2.3 billion project.

Transgrid and construction partner SecureEnergy JV is responsible for the $1.8 billion, 700km NSW section of EnergyConnect, that stretches from Wagga Wagga to the South Australian border, with a 22km connection to Red Cliffs in Victoria.

Construction of the South Australian leg of the link, running 200km from the border to Robertstown, got underway in February, and is being delivered by ElectraNet.

“EnergyConnect is the biggest project ever undertaken by our company – it is a key part of the energy superhighway which will transform energy supply for millions of Australians,” said Stephen Troughton, project director at Transgrid.

“Our construction partner SecureEnergy JV has completed the first concrete foundations for 19 towers (of 291) on the alignment from Buronga to South Australia. About 6,000 concrete footings will be required to support 1,500 towers across the project from Wagga Wagga to the South Australian border.”

The highly anticipated EnergyConnect project kicked off construction in New South Wales earlier this year, to  provide a vital link between the renewable rich South Australian electricity grid and the coal-dominated NSW grid.

A spur line will also be built from Buronga, on the NSW side of the Murray River across from Mildura, to Red Cliffs in Victoria.

All told, the project will allow the sharing of energy between the three states for the first time, enabling better integration of renewable generation, lowering the cost of wholesale electricity, and helping to achieve national emission reduction targets.

In particular, Transgrid expects EnergyConnect to save NSW customers $180 million per year, while also creating 1,500 jobs and contributing $4 billion in net economic benefits.

“EnergyConnect is a once-in-a-generation transmission project that will improve the affordability, reliability and security of electricity supply and we are really pleased construction is moving full steam ahead for this critical infrastructure,” said Troughton.

“We are engaging a workforce which is unprecedented for a transmission construction project in the country, with EnergyConnect set to create 1,500 jobs,” said Samuel Basanta Lopez, project director at SecureEnergy JV.