As Marinus Link secures financial close, TBH’s integrated project controls expertise of Time, Cost and Risk has helped provide the assurance needed for one of Australia’s most ambitious energy infrastructure projects to proceed.

The announcement of financial close for Stage 1 of Marinus Link marks a significant step in Australia’s transition to a cleaner and more resilient energy system. The project will establish a new undersea and underground interconnector between Tasmania and Victoria, enabling the flow of renewable power across the National Electricity Market (NEM) and supporting Hydro Tasmania’s “Battery of the Nation” initiative.

For a development of this complexity, progress depends not only on technical ambition but also on the ability to demonstrate credible, evidence-based delivery plans. Over the past couple of years, TBH has supported Marinus Link with independent expertise in cost estimation, Integrated Master Schedule development and quantitative cost and schedule risk analysis. These contributions have provided the clarity and assurance needed at critical points in the project’s journey, from parliamentary to regulatory reviews and ultimately financial close.

Ali Nami, TBH Director and TBH’s Planning Lead, said integration across disciplines was central to this outcome. “Our time, cost and risk specialists worked together to develop a robust and aligned proposal that directly informed regulatory approval processes and supported funding submissions. That alignment gave decision-makers a clear line of sight to delivery,” he said.

TBH was initially engaged to undertake a peer review of the Victorian Land Cable Route Cost Estimate. Whilst the original estimate was well detailed and included most items on the drawings, TBH Director and Lead Cost Estimator, Corey Farrell, who has dual qualifications in civil engineering and quantity surveying was able to improve on scope appreciation, construability input and constraints identification. This added value led to TBH being engaged to prepare further cost plans for both the civil and converter station packages as the design developed, and provide advice on further complex matters such as contaminated ground remediation.

With reliable cost plans in place, attention turned to testing the resilience of those assumptions. Risk analysis provided the means to bring together costs, schedules and delivery strategies and ensure project feasibility.

“We delivered integrated and pragmatic quantitative cost and schedule risk assessments, along with scenario analysis that connected commercial strategies, delivery strategies and the various project packages and components,” explained TBH Director and Risk Services Lead Moataz Mahmoud. “This ensured that potential challenges were fully understood and effectively mitigated.”

TBH’s ability to bring these disciplines together reflects decades of experience in the power and infrastructure sectors. “Our expertise is not limited to planning, or cost estimation, or risk analysis in isolation,” Nami added. “It is the combination of those skills, applied within regulatory and funding processes, that helps clients anticipate bottlenecks and navigate the complexities of project development and delivery. That breadth of experience across sectors uniquely positioned us to support Marinus Link.”

The integration of time, cost and risk gave regulators and financiers confidence that Marinus Link was backed by a delivery plan grounded in evidence. For a project of national significance, this alignment was essential to achieving financial close and securing the investment needed to proceed.

With financing in place, contractors appointed for cabling and converter stations and a preferred civil works contractor announced, Marinus Link now moves towards delivery. Construction is expected to begin in 2026, with Stage 1 scheduled for completion by 2030.

Acknowledgement

TBH’s work on Marinus Link was delivered through the combined expertise of a dedicated project team, including the Planning team led by Ali Nami with Jonathan Wang, Chloe Bi and Gavriella Gunawan; the Cost team led by Corey Farrell with Shin Mei Goo and Cathy Kuan; and the Risk team led by Moataz Mahmoud with Heath Dee, Strahinja Vukadin and Cindy Wong.