The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) today commenced public consultation on the stage 1 – part A early works application for the Marinus Link interconnector.
As part of its application, Marinus Link Proprietary (Pty) Limited (Ltd) is seeking to recover $128.9 million in revenue to deliver proposed early works. This includes landowner and community engagement, land and easement acquisition, environment impact assessments, technical design, procurement, and project management.
Total expenditure for early works activities is $196.5 million, partially covered by grant funding, with the remainder $128.9 million subject to the early works revenue application.
The AER’s role is to review the reasonableness of the proposed costs within the stage 1 – part A application to ensure consumers pay no more than necessary. The AER expects to make a decision on the application in December 2023.
Marinus Link Pty Ltd will later submit a stage 1 – part B application seeking to recover revenue for construction and implementation costs, once a final cost estimate is available and subject to the project completing the Australian Energy Market Operator’s (AEMO) Integrated System Plan (ISP) feedback loop process.
The staged approach has been adopted to reduce project uncertainty and identify project risks.
Invitation for submissions
We welcome submissions from interested stakeholders on the stage 1 – part A early works application for the Marinus Link interconnector by 15 September 2023. Written submissions or requests to make a submission via alternative methods should be emailed to ResetCoord
aer [dot] gov [dot] au (ResetCoord[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au).
Background
The proposed Marinus Link interconnector will comprise two 750MW high voltage direct current (HVDC) cables running 255km undersea and 90km underground HVDC cables between Burnie, Tasmania and Latrobe Valley, Victoria.
The AEMO ISP identifies significant new transmission requirements to connect renewable generation sources as well as firming capacity; one transmission project identified is Marinus Link.
On 1 June 2023 the AER published its decision to commence a revenue determination process for the Marinus Link interconnector and the commencement and process paper applying to that decision.
On 31 March 2023 Marinus Link Pty Ltd applied to the AER to commence and set out a process for establishing a revenue determination for the proposed Marinus Link Interconnector.