The New South Wales (NSW) government has moved a step closer to opening a renewable energy zone (REZ) centred around the state’s coal-heavy Hunter–Central Coast region with planning approval granted for network infrastructure upgrades that will deliver an additional 1 GW of network transfer capacity in the region by 2028.
Network company Ausgrid, which earlier this year secured the contract to deliver and operate the Hunter-Central Coast REZ transmission project, said the project will establish critical infrastructure that will connect solar and wind farms and energy storage to the NSW electricity grid.
The project scope includes upgrades for existing infrastructure in the distribution network of poles and wires. It will upgrade power lines within existing corridors and add two new substations.
NSW Energy Minister Penny Sharpe said enhancing the existing grid rather than building new transmission lines will enable a faster and cheaper integration of renewables into the grid, and in a way that reduces impact on the local community and the environment.
“Upgrading existing distribution poles and wires allows us to minimise the impact on communities and the environment, and speeds up the delivery of this critical infrastructure,” she said.
The project is expected to provide an extra 1 GW of new network transfer capacity by 2028, allowing for new wind and solar projects to be built in the Hunter-Central Coast REZ that stretches from the Upper Hunter in the north to the Central Coast in the south and includes the Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and Port Stephens regions.
The Hunter-Central Coast REZ is one of five co-ordinated zones identified by the state government that group new wind and solar power generation into locations where it can be efficiently stored and transmitted across NSW.
Others are planned for the Central West Orana, South-West, New England, and Illawarra regions.
The zones are a key part of the NSW Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap which the state has adopted as it looks to systematically transition from coal-fired power generation to renewables-based electricity.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.