Last of 1,500 steel towers in Australia’s largest transmission project finally erected

Australia’s largest energy transmission project, which will connect the power grids of three states and is key to the country’s renewable and emissions targets has reached a major milestone.

Construction of more than 1500 steel towers in the 700km EnergyConnect transmission lines project across NSW, Victoria and South Australia has finished.

Weighing an average of 60 tonnes and taking 16 days to construct, the final tower which was raised at Bundure in the NSW Riverina region in a project that has been beset with delays and cost blowouts.

Assembling and erecting the towers was like an IKEA flat pack, except with 10,000 pieces, weighing between 20,000kg to 60,000kg, and workers having to suspend 65m off the ground, construction director Anthony Armstrong said.

More than 10,385km of high-voltage cabling – enough to run from Sydney to Perth three times – has also been completed.

While the 159km western section, from Buronga in NSW to the South Australia border and Red Cliffs in Victoria, has been completed and energised, construction of a new substation at Bundure is yet to be finalised.

The entire project is scheduled to be powered up by late 2026 after facing a two-year delay and cost blowouts.

Initially with an estimated bill of $2.1 billion, the total costs blew out to $3.6 billion in January, with TransGrid citing Covid-related supply chain impacts, labour shortages, inflation and the war on Ukraine.

There have been concerns consumers will wear the cost overruns through higher energy prices.

The project will accelerate Australia’s renewable energy transition and will help strengthen the national grid, TransGrid major projects executive manager Gordon Taylor said.

“The project is part of our plan to give industry and consumers peace of mind as coal generation winds down in NSW, stabilising the grid at a time when reliability and affordability are national priorities,” he said.

The project has also been embroiled in controversy after the union representing electrical workers took TransGrid to the Federal Court over its alleged long-term use of outsourcing without consulting employe

The Electrical Trades Union is seeking penalties, claiming the firm was legally obliged to give staff the chance to prove their “internal efficiencies” before deciding to hire external contractors.

Australia has a renewable energy target of 82 per cent by 2030, as well as emissions reduction targets of a 43 per cent cut below 2005 levels by 2030 and by 62 to 70 per cent by 2035, as well as net zero 2050. 

AAP