New South Wales will soon be home to Australia’s first declared Renewable Energy Zone (REZ), with the NSW Government awarding ACEREZ the contract to deliver the Central-West Orana REZ transmission project.
The Central-West Orana REZ transmission project will build new high-capacity transmission lines, energy hubs and supporting infrastructure to transfer power generated by solar and wind farms to electricity consumers. The REZ, which is approximately 20,000 square kilometres in size and centred around Dubbo and Dunedoo, is expected to be operational by 2028.
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This project is the first competitively sourced REZ transmission project in Australia. EnergyCo implemented a tailored procurement model that incentivises early delivery and cost efficiency for the network operator, safeguarding long-term interests of energy consumers.
The project is expected to initially unlock up to 4.5GW of new network capacity—the equivalent of powering two million homes—and bring up to $20 billion in private investment to New South Wales by 2030.
Lead designer Aurecon has been supporting ACEREZ—a partnership of ACCIONA, COBRA and Endeavour Energy—for the past two years undertaking the detailed design of high-voltage transmission lines and associated towers, substations and generator connection switching stations, project coordination, as well as environmental and social requirements.
Aurecon energy transmission and distribution industry leader Renene Windsor said, “New transmission infrastructure is the backbone of Australia’s renewable energy transition, transporting electricity from renewable sources to where it’s needed.
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“Our involvement underlines Aurecon’s focus on innovating to deliver Australia’s energy transition. We have collaborated locally and globally across industry and governments on a list of major projects, developing first-of-its-kind renewable energy infrastructure for decades.”
Over 200 of Aurecon’s designers, engineers and advisors have been working on the Central-West Orana REZ project. At its peak, the REZ is expected to support around 5,000 construction jobs in the region.
