NSW grants licence to consortium picked to deliver first renewable energy zone

The consortium of companies picked to build the transmission system for the Central-West Orana renewable energy zone has been awarded an operator’s licence by the New South Wales government, taking the pioneering REZ a step closer to connecting gigawatts of new wind, solar and storage.

The Central-West Orana (CWO) renewable energy zone (REZ) will host at least 4.5GW of new wind, solar and storage projects in a region that includes Dubbo, Dunedoo and Mudgee, as NSW races to replace its ageing coal fired generators.

NSW energy minister Penny Sharpe said on Wednesday that a licence has been granted to ACEREZ, a consortium of Acciona Concesiones, Cobra and Endeavour Energy, after its selection as the preferred network operator by EnergyCo, following a “rigorous competitive tender.”

The CWO transmission project will add 90km of 500 kV transmission lines and 150km of 330 kV transmission lines – a total of around 240km – between Wollar and proposed substations at Merotherie and Elong Elong and will cost around $3.2 billion.

Sharpe says the licence has been granted under several conditions, set out by independent regulator IPART, including a requirement for ACEREZ to become a member of an external dispute resolution scheme – an “important condition” the minister says will support social licence for the project.

“ACEREZ is a partnership consisting of two multinational companies with infrastructure and transmission network construction, maintenance and operations experience, and a licensed NSW distribution network operator,” IPART said in a draft recommendation earlier this year.

“Combined, they have over 76,000 employees and $40 billion in electricity industry infrastructure construction experience covering construction, maintenance and operation of transmission and distribution networks.”

Progress on the Central-West Orana REZ has been ticking away this year, including planning approval in June and federal environmental approval in August.

The REZ was also given a boost in May, when the federal government’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation allocated $490 million in debt finance to EnergyCo to help deliver its key grid upgrades.

The investment, which drew from the $19 billion set aside for the federal government’s Rewiring The Nation (RTN) Fund, marked the largest single transaction for the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, yet.