Burnie City Council sells prime parcel of land to TasNetworks

A parcel of seaside land which once housed a polluting paint factory is set to become a hub of Tasmania’s latest renewable energy project.

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LAND which housed a paint factory near Burnie which stained the sea as pollutants were discharged into Bass Strait is set to become a hub for Tasmania’s Marinus Link renewable energy project.

TasNetworks has purchased the former Tioxide site land from Burnie City Council.

While Burnie Mayor Steve Kons has not divulged how much money changed hands in the real estate deal he said the property fetched “above valuation.”

Burnie City Council paid $2.5 million for the land back in 2008 with the aim of it becoming an industrial estate.

Five years later Forestry Tasmania signed a deal to store logs and equipment on the land giving it easy access to Burnie Port.

Now it is a potential site for the Tasmanian converter stations for Marinus Link which will carry power from this state to Victoria.

“It is ironic that the old Tioxide site in Heybridge, with its history of rust-red effluent which made the coastline an eyesore for half a century, could soon be the site that makes Burnie a hub for clean, green renewable energy,” Mayor Kons said.

“The Marinus Link interconnector is expected to unlock significant economic benefits to Tasmania while providing a secure energy supply to mainland Australia.

“Council believes that this development will make our city an important hub for renewable energy projects in the region, such as new wind farms and pumped hydro projects leading to a phase of economic growth not seen since APPM was established in Burnie.”

The Federal and State governments signed an MOU to move the project forward this week and Lake Cethana has been named as the preferred site for the pumped hydro which will provide the power to be exported interstate.

But there are still questions over who will ultimately own the infrastructure and if the second cable will see Tasmanians pay lower power prices – as was promised with the building of its predecessor Basslink.

The announcement coincides with the release of the Marinus Link Route Options Report Overview which is now open for consultation.

The Route Options Report Overview describes the proposed route for Marinus Link including the location of the converter station site at Heybridge and will be available online at marinuslink.com.au from Wednesday afternoon.