Transgrid has marked the construction of EnergyConnect’s final steel tower, bringing the project’s 700km-long transmission build to a close.
More than 1500 steel towers have been constructed from the South Australian border to Wagga Wagga and into Victoria (amounting to more than 46,000 tonnes of structural steel), with 10,385km of high-voltage conductor cabling installed, enough to extend from Sydney to Perth three times.
EnergyConnect, set to be completed in 2026, will help connect renewable assets across Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia to the NEM, bringing what is promised to be cleaner and more affordable to power to the market.
“EnergyConnect is the first major transmission project to accelerate Australia’s renewable energy transition and will help strengthen the national grid and position NSW as a leader in clean energy,” Transgrid executive general manager – major projects Gordon Taylor said.
“The project is part of our plan to give industry and consumers peace of mind as coal generation winds down in NSW, stabilising the grid at a time when reliability and affordability are national priorities.”
Taylor detailed the sustainability attributes of EnergyConnect.
“The project includes 733 guyed towers which require 21 per cent less steel and 15 per cent less concrete to construct compared to conventional self-supporting structures,” he said. “We have also used low carbon concrete in all tower foundations.”
“EnergyConnect has seen the first Danubio towers erected in Australia, with 338 of the structures specially designed for the 500kV line between Bundure, near Coleambally, and Wagga Wagga. Each of these towers weighs an average of 60 tonnes and takes 16 days to construct.”
EnergyConnect has seen one of the most complex substations in the Southern Hemisphere constructed, with the world-class Dinawan substation nearly completed, comprising two 120MVAr synchronous condensers – weighing 300 tonnes each – installed in a 60m-long, 1200m² machine hall.
The Wagga Wagga substation is also undergoing a major expansion.
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