Interconnector between SA and NSW expected to cost $1.5 billion but save power bills by $66 a year

Household power bills are expected to be slashed by $66 per year under final plans for a new $1.5 billion extension cord that would link SA to NSW.

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Household power bills are expected to be slashed by $66 per year under final plans for a new $1.5 billion extension cord that would link SA to NSW.

It would be more than double the $30 saving predicted in energy infrastructure company ElectraNet’s draft proposal released last year. ElectraNet will today release its long-awaited final proposal for the “Project EnergyConnect” link.

It is seeking a development green light from regulators by mid-year.

The State Government is spruiking the project as a super-highway for green power that would allow South Australia’s new solar and wind developments to easily plug into the system.

If approved, the 900km interconnector would snake from Robertstown in SA’s Mid North to Wagga Wagga in NSW, via Buronga.

Completion, and savings, are expected in 2022.

A spur line from Buronga to Red Cliffs in Victoria would also be added. SA’s only interconnector is with Victoria – and the failure of that line was a major factor in the statewide blackout of 2016.

The State Government is spruiking the project as a super-highway for green power that would allow South Australia’s new solar and wind developments to easily plug into the system. (File image)

Building the new interconnector was a major plank in the energy plan that Premier Steven Marshall took to the state election last year, and part of a wider package that he said would cut bills by a total $302.

Mr Marshall said the 800MW interconnector, which could carry power equivalent to that needed for 240,000 homes and be one of the biggest project of its kind in decades, would become “nation building” infrastructure.

“SA businesses and households will have cheaper and more reliable power when SA and NSW’s electricity networks are linked up,” Mr Marshall said on Tuesday night.

“The interconnector will also help drive the future development of our renewable energy sector, opening up NSW’s energy market for SA’s wind and solar farms. Frankly, this interconnector should have been built a decade ago.”

The cable would be funded by an additional charge on bills of about $9, which independent analysis commissioned by ElectraNet found would be more than offset by cheaper wholesale energy to deliver the total $66 annual saving.

For SA businesses, it predicts an annual saving of $132. Households in NSW can expect $30 to be shaved from their annual power bills.

ElectraNet chief executive Steve Masters told The Advertiser the interconnector would be a “big complex project” but offer big consumer benefits.

“Modelling has been updated for all the changes that we’ve seen in the broader market and how it’s expected to behave going forward,” Mr Masters said.

“It (Project EnergyConnect) will create greater competition in generation and help more come into the market, as a result of the interconnector, to drive prices down.”

Mr Masters said much of the existing transmission network had been built to service old coal mines and power station, and the new interconnector would support the sources of power set to be an increasing part of the future.

It is unclear if the project would require any support from a $200 million interconnection fund pledged by the Government.

Opposition energy spokesman Tom Koutsantonis has raised concerns that interconnection would result in fewer power stations being built in SA as major companies consolidated operations interstate.

“If you build an interconnector into NSW, power will not flow from SA to NSW all the time,” he told Parliament.

“It will be the other way round, and then you’ll be completely reliant on the NSW grid for your power.”