Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone

The Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone is the first Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) in NSW, covering an area of approximately 20,000 square kilometres centred by Dubbo and Dunedoo, on the land of the Wiradjuri, Wailwan and Kamilaroi people. This project was created to deliver and operate new transmission infrastructure and energy hubs in this region.

The REZ will initially unlock at least 3 gigawatts of new network capacity by the mid-2020s, enough to power 1.4 million homes. New transmission infrastructure will enable generators (such as solar and wind farms) participating in the REZ to export electricity to the rest of the network.

TBH’s Role

During the tender process, TBH provided Technical Advisory and Due Diligence services to APA in matters related to time, cost, risk and commercial terms, to inform their investment decisions. As part of these services, TBH provided the following services:

• Detailed review of the delivery programme to ensure:
  • The entire scope of work is accounted for;
  • The sequence of activities, efforts planned and the resources applied were in line with a reasonable constructability approach and benchmarked against similar projects;
  • Sequence of installation, testing, pre-commissioning, commissioning and energisation of various equipment and different parts of the network were accurately reflected in the programme;
• Performed an independent peer review of the delivery costs to identify areas requiring further improvement and provide confidence to APA as to the level of contingency required;
• Assessment of risk and opportunities with the APA team to ensure sufficient contingency was set aside for various delivery and operation and maintenance activities;
• Review of the term sheets and provision of commercial advice in matters related to delivery time and cost parameters.

The TBH Difference

Backed by recent experience providing similar services and many years of experience delivering transmission infrastructure projects, TBH was able to identify the risks in the delivery schedule and cost estimates and ensure that those risks were included in the delivery plan of APA’s delivery partners. This ultimately assisted APA in considering these risks with their delivery partners and making a more informed investment decision.

To find out more about TBH’s Strategic Advisory Services Capability expertise, please visit the Strategic Advisory Services Capability page.