Scott Morrison promises $94m to progress ‘Battery of the Nation’

Plans to make Tasmania the ‘battery of the nation’ by building a second power interconnector to Victoria have been boosted.

Tarraleah hydroelectric power station in Tasmania. Picture: Mathew Farrell

Plans to make Tasmania the “battery of the nation” by building a second power interconnector to Victoria have been boosted, with the Morrison government announcing $94m to further advance the scheme.

The funding, and a formal agreement to be signed with the state government on Tuesday, aims to take the $3.5bn proposed “Marinus Link” interconnector to a final investment decision stage.

A second cable would allow Tasmania, already self-sufficient with 100 per cent renewable energy, to pursue a 200 per cent target via wind farms, green hydrogen and pumped hydro, with the surplus exported to the mainland.

“Marinus Link will provide the additional interconnection needed to export the electricity generated by the battery of the nation projects to the mainland,” Energy Minister Angus Taylor said. “It will unlock a pipeline of new renewable energy investment, including pumped hydro energy storage. Energy projects like this also represent a massive economic opportunity for Australia as we recover from the COVID-19 recession.”

The State Energy and Emissions Reduction Deal, to be signed by the Prime Minister and Premier Peter Gutwein in Launceston on Tuesday, progresses Marinus Link’s design and approvals phase. It is not known who will pay the total cost of the project, if it eventuates, with Victoria and other beneficiaries of the exported power likely to have to carry part of the burden, along with the commonwealth and private sector.

The deal creates a “special purpose corporate vehicle” — 62.5 per cent commonwealth-owned and 37.5 per cent Tasmanian government-owned — to “progress the Marinus Link transmission through to a final investment decision”.

The two governments also agree to a “scoping and developing process” in 2021 to underwrite the first Battery of the Nation pumped hydro site in Tasmania’s Central Highlands.