Construction is ramping up on a contentious infrastructure project deemed essential to advancing Australia’s shift to renewable energy.
HumeLink, a $4.8 billion overhead transmission line in southern NSW, is designed to strengthen the capability of the National Electricity Market and connect the Snowy Hydro Scheme expansion.
The project has drawn fierce criticism from farmers, local communities, and environmental groups that oppose its route through prime farmland and national parks.
It is expected to unlock the full capacity of Snowy 2.0, delivering 2200MW of on-demand energy into the grid – enough energy to power up to three million homes for a week.
Transgrid Group chief executive Brett Redman said the 395km transmission line was a major step forward in delivering sustainable, affordable and reliable energy.
“Nation-building projects such as HumeLink are crucial to helping the Australian government achieve its new 2035 climate change target of a 62 to 70 per cent reduction in emissions, compared with 2005 levels,” he said in a statement.
“This is a pivotal moment for the country’s energy transition.”
The 500-kilovolt, high-voltage transmission infrastructure is located between Wagga Wagga, Bannaby and Maragle, increasing transfer capacity between southern NSW and greater Sydney.
The project has been deemed divisive after a 2023 NSW parliamentary inquiry examined the significant community support for constructing high-voltage transmission lines underground, including fears overground lines would exacerbate the area’s already high bushfire risk.
But operator Transgrid had estimated a subterranean line would cost up to $11.5 billion and would take too long.
The project has been subject to strict conditions to protect nature, including limits on land clearing and minimising impacts on hollow-bearing trees and threatened species.
Most of the new transmission lines will lie within existing transmission corridors, which minimises clearing.
Transgrid says it has now reached negotiated land access and easement agreements, either in place or agreed in principle, with 98.9 per cent of private landholders for the HumeLink project.
The project is anticipated to create 1600 jobs in the regional community.
The existing HumeLink plan is expected to be finished by 2026.
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