Work must begin urgently on five big transmission projects if Australia’s main power grid is to succeed in its “once-in-a-century transformation” off fossil fuels without shortages and energy cost blowouts, the market operator said in its blueprint report.
The integrated system plan (ISP), updated biennially by the Australian Energy Market Operator and released on Thursday, estimated the grid serving eastern states would need at least 10,000km of new transmission lines to link up a nine-fold expansion of wind and solar farm capacity by 2050 under its mostly likely scenario.
