The Clean Energy Finance Corporation has made a $100 million investment in the Rewiring the Nation program to boost roll-out of much-needed transmission upgrades in NSW.
With Australia’s high-voltage transmission network in urgent need of significant expansion to enable the construction of major renewable energy projects, this investment will help accelerate the trajectory towards the nation’s net-zero targets.
Australia is committed to 82 per cent renewable energy by 2030, and Rewiring the Nation is a key component to achieving this goal. However, there are many issues facing transmission upgrade initiatives, including a lack of investment and connection delays that threaten progress on the 100,000km network that needs to be built.
However, the Federal Government has committed $20 billion via the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) for the HumeLink project and New England Transmission project in NSW.
“This capital injection will help deliver considerable benefits for NSW, underpinning regional investment as well as substantial new flows of clean energy,” says CEFC chief executive Ian Learmonth.
“It will also make a positive impact on the achievement of Australia’s important decarbonisation ambitions.”
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Australia’s renewables target provides incentives for developers to undertake major clean energy projects, but many proposed undertakings have stalled due to concerns about delays to connecting them to the grid.
However, this $100 million from the CEFC provides a timely boost.
“Rebuilding our energy system is a large and complex task, with infrastructure projects requiring considerable capital, expertise and time to bring online,” says Learmonth.
“As a specialist financier, we are able to use our capital to support investment flows through to project delivery and revenue generation, providing confidence to the market and private sector investors.”