$5bn Copperstring 2.0 project to create 800 jobs over six years
A multibillion-dollar energy project will unleash affordable renewable energy and critical minerals, generating “thousands of jobs and billions in investment”, the state government says.
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The energy backbone of Queensland’s north will be built by the state government for $5bn, in a landmark project set to unlock the “next mining boom” and connect a major renewable power zone to the national grid.
Copperstring 2.0, Queensland’s most significant power network project, will be taken over by the government and beefed up in a move set to double the scheme’s estimated cost.
The project, a brainchild of Townsville-based company CuString, had been progressing as a 1100km high-voltage power line to connect the resource-rich North West Minerals Province (NWMP) to the national grid via Hughenden and Townsville.
But the government has moved to make it an “expanded” scheme, upgrading the section between Townsville and Hughenden – an established renewable energy hub – from 330kV to 500kV in a bid to push more clean power into the grid.
According to authorities, the project will also “unlock the next mining boom in critical minerals” by providing energy certainty to the $500bn in resources stored within the Mount Isa-centred North West Minerals Province.
The project itself is expected to create 800 jobs over six years, with early works to start this year and construction proper in 2024 with completion slated for 2029.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk described Copperstring 2.0 as “the most significant investment in economic infrastructure in North Queensland in generations”.
“Unlocking affordable renewable energy and our critical minerals will benefit Townsville, Mount Isa and every town in between – unlocking thousands of jobs and billions in investment,” she said.
Ms Palaszczuk, announcing the $62bn Queensland Energy and Jobs plan in 2022, had indicated the government planned to “maintain majority ownership” of its power assets.
It was anticipated the government’s “commitment” to Copperstring and indication it would be integral to the state’s wider grid overhaul meant taking over ownership of the project.
The recent estimated cost of Copperstring 2.0 was $2.5bn, but the state government has set the cost at $5bn – with the move to increase transmission capacity and “global supply chain conditions” cited as reasons why the price tag has doubled.
Treasurer Cameron Dick said “at least $500m of the cost” would be delivered through the government’s controversial coal royalty hikes.
Energy Minister Mick de Brenni said the project would open up “6000 megawatts of potential renewable energy in the North Queensland Energy Zone”.
The concept of Copperstring has been around for more than 13 years, with the original proposal canned by the government under then-premier Anna Bligh for being commercially unviable at the time.
The Katter’s Australian Party, in state MP Robbie Katter and federal colleague and dad Bob, have championed Copperstring as transformative for the electorates they represent since the project’s inception.
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