Transgrid has notified the AER that AEMO has provided a further feedback loop assessment of the HumeLink project based on the Final 2024 Integrated System Plan.
This further feedback loop assessment responds to feedback from stakeholders.
Aside from this update, Transgrid’s contingent project application is unchanged from the application it submitted on 22 December 2023.
The AER is open to receiving comments on this updated information by close of business on Wednesday, 17 July 2024 by emailing contingentprojects
aer [dot] gov [dot] au (contingentprojects[at]aer[dot]gov[dot]au).
Background:
With the recent publication of the 2024 ISP, the AER identified an option for a feedback loop assessment to be undertaken (as an additional cross-check) against the most recent ISP.
AEMO has now published a notice stating that an additional feedback loop assessment has been undertaken, and HumeLink remains on the optimal development path.
Transgrid has written to the AER to inform us of this latest feedback loop confirmation, and requested that the AER take this additional material into account in its decision on the contingent project application.
We are continuing to assess the application including examining other issues raised by stakeholders and scrutinising Transgrid’s proposed costs. We expect to make our decision in early August.
Humelink is a transmission network upgrade connecting the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme to Bannaby, expanding transmission capacity in southern New South Wales.
The feedback loop is one of several criteria that must be met before a transmission business can submit a contingent project application to the AER. The feedback loop is a consumer safeguard which checks that:
- the preferred option selected in the Regulatory Investment Test process aligns with the optimal development path
- the cost of the preferred option does not change the status of the project.