The Marinus Link has awarded a milestone tender in the project’s design and approval phase, with the $5.5 million contract awarded for underwater geotechnical surveys, defining the route for the project’s cable.
The Australian company, MMA Offshore, has won the $5.5 million contract to carry out the Marine Engineering Geotechnical Site Investigation (MEGSI).
The Marinus Link includes 255km of undersea High Voltage Direct Current cable and about 90km of underground HVDC cable in Victoria.
The Marinus Link interconnector is a proposed 1,500MW capacity undersea and underground electricity connection between Tasmania and Victoria, identified as a critical part of Australia’s future electricity grid.
The expert crew of the 87m survey ship ‘TEK Ocean Spirit’ will be based in Burnie for the duration of the 39 day survey program, with crew from Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. The survey will commence in January 2022.
The survey will be conducted on about 110 sites across the proposed Marinus Link undersea route between Heybridge, in North-West Tasmania, and Warratah Bay, in South Gippsland, Victoria at sea depths of up to 80m.
The proposed Tasmanian HVDC converter station site for Marinus Link is the old Tioxide site at Heybridge and local residents will be able to observe this vessel doing survey work offshore over this summer.
Marinus Link is a key project to unlock Tasmania’s deep storage potential, increasing reliability, keeping power prices low and contributing to a cleaner planet.
The Marinus Link will create 2,800 jobs across Tasmania and Victoria, and aims to attract billions of dollars of new investment to Tasmania by unlocking a pipeline of future renewable energy development.
