Why transmission is the missing link to an orderly transition to renewables

NSW took a step forward this week in its bid to become the nation’s renewable energy champion by revealing details of the proposed Waratah super-battery.

The NSW government industry briefing drew significant interest from financiers, developers, and battery suppliers from across the globe.

One industry participant who attended the session said, “this battery is a monster, and on top of the $32 billion of transmission and generation investment needed to be made in NSW before 2030 to hit their legislated targets, this is another draw card which will surely soak up the available national renewable delivery capacity over the next decade”.

The renewables industry is an arms race with states competing hard to win multi-billion-dollar investment.

Victoria is already home to the largest operational battery in the southern hemisphere, the Neoen 300MW Victorian Big Battery, but the real race against time for all governments is to build the critical transmission to connect the renewable wind and solar generated electricity to the grid.

Progress is steadily being made, but it is not going fast enough if we are to create the new transmission grid we require to keep the lights on and power prices down before coal-fired generation is phased out, which every Australian knows is going to happen sooner than previously planned.

Victoria has natural advantages which should make it the leader in renewables with an abundance of wind resources and communities that want to participate in their development.

What’s clearly missing is more transmission to be able to move the energy from where it is generated to where it is needed.

WestWind Energy has developed three of the currently operating large wind farms in Victoria that host 228 wind turbines and another 215 wind turbines in Westwind’s largest project to date could go into construction later this year.

We also have more than 300 wind turbines in the early development stages that are at risk of not going ahead if we don’t have a deliverable plan or timeline for transmission infrastructure to bring the renewable electricity to the major load centres in Victoria as well as interstate.

For wind energy projects to get the green light they must show the impacts associated with viable connection options into the transmission system. If there is uncertainty about the transmission system itself, then there remains even greater uncertainty on any planned transmission lines to connect new renewable energy projects and planning approvals may not be received as a result.

We are after an orderly transition from coal-generated electricity to renewable energy and if we do it right it will not have any adverse impacts on people’s power bills. But if we don’t get it right the market price for power will rise.

Transmission projects take a long time to develop, but we don’t have a lot of time if we are serious about a timely transition to cleaner sources of electricity.

WestWind has partnered with AusNet Services to deliver its connection to the main transmission grid. AusNet Services was commissioned by the Australian Energy Market Operator to do the preparation work for the Western Victoria Transmission Network Project, which is a 190km transmission project to connect wind and solar generated electricity in the west of the state to the grid. The project is currently working hard to prepare the Environment Effects Statement to the government.

Renewable generation development can be challenging, but transmission can be just as challenging, if not harder, and projects such as the Western Victoria Transmission Network Project are critical if we want to ensure we have sufficient generation in the latter half of this decade to keep the lights on with the earlier retirement of coal in Victoria.

The Western Victorian Transmission Network Project alone will power half a million Victorian homes, and employ 300 people during construction. It is the state’s potential energy super-highway.

If this project goes ahead, it will unlock a further $16 billion of investment across the local region through new renewable projects, creating a pipeline of jobs for years to come as well as new industries for the region to support the renewable sector.

While the Western Victoria project has been opposed by some landholders within the proposed transmission route AusNet has been consulting widely with local communities and engaging with landholders.

There is no escaping the reality that transmission is the critical link to our low emissions future, but I absolutely acknowledge that this presents big challenges for communities and individual landholders along the routes of transmission projects here and in fact all around Australia.

This project is the first of its kind in three decades and AusNet is doing a good job of balancing the competing pressures that go with critical infrastructure planning at this scale.

The stakes are high.

Tobias Geiger is WestWind Energy Managing Director