New England Renewable Energy Zone

Project Overview

Renewable Energy Zones (REZs) will group new wind and solar power generation into locations where it can be efficiently stored and transmitted across NSW. NSW needs increased transmission capacity so that new, clean sources of power from REZs in regional NSW can deliver electricity to demand centres, predominantly located along the eastern, coastal regions of the State.

New England (NE) REZ will provide network solutions, including transmission upgrades, to open up the best renewable energy and storage resources, allowing for new generation, transmission and storage to be built in a coordinated manner.

The NSW Government, through The Energy Corporation of NSW (EnergyCo), is in the early stages of planning a REZ in the New England region, centred around Armida le on the lands of the Biripi, Dainggatti, Nganyaywana, Ngarabal, and Gumbainggir people. New network infrastructure will be built in the REZ to enable new generation and storage projects to connect and transport their energy to consumers, both in and outside the REZ.

Some of this infrastructure will need to be built outside the REZ geographical area to connect the REZ to the main backbone transmission network. As the Infrastructure Planner for the REZ, EnergyCo is in the early stages of assessing what new network infrastructure should be built to unlock and service the New England REZ.

TBH’s Role

TBH has been working with EnergyCo since late 2022 to develop a detailed master programme for the NE REZ project to drive planning advice. The master programme encompasses all aspects of the project from community consultation, environmental approvals, regulator engagement, design, and construction. Confirming the accuracy of the results, including an assessment of various application scenarios. TBH has been imbedded within the project team and works closely with all workstream leads and other advisors, to provide planning support and constructability advice.

TBH has also provides OSRA services to the project to quantify risks to provide the project team understanding of potential programme impacts to assist decision makers as the project matures.

The TBH Difference

TBH has been involved in numerous transmission line and renewable energy projects, across all stage of the project lifecycle. This experience provides TBH the knowledge of key risks and issues commonly faced with transmission projects.

TBH’s involvement across the industry gives us an insight into risks regarding industry workforce capacity issues, supply chain challenges, and pitfalls throughout the environmental approvals and community consultation pathway. Our experience working through these risk areas, allows us to advice our clients well ahead of time and plan to navigate through project challenges.