More power will be generated in the New England region in 2050 than is produced in the Hunter today and the region will need billions in new power poles to accommodate it, according to the latest energy market plan.
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The region will produce as much as 14.5 gigawatts of renewable energy, according to one option presented in the Australian Energy Market Operator's (AEMO) Integrated System Plan (ISP).
The plan lays out a series of future upgrades of local transmission lines, each of which will dwarf the huge $217 million upgrade of the region's Queensland-NSW interconnector, which was kicked off last year.
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ISP modelling suggests the New England has the potential to become one of the largest renewable energy zones (REZ's) in the east coast.
Released last week, the draft plan brings forward plans for a $1.9 billion upgrade of local transmission infrastructure.
Work on the New England REZ Transmission Link should "commence immediately, given the lead time required, for delivery in 2027-28," it said.
By 2050 the region will generate as much as 7000 MW of wind and 7500 MW of solar power, according to the ISP.
That's because multiple gigawatts worth of coal plants will close two or three times faster then expected, with the industry virtually obsolete within a decade or so, it said.
Business NSW Regional Manager Joe Townsend said the huge expansion of power generation in the New England is a big opportunity for local business.
"The renewable energy projects are definitely an opportunity for local businesses but also for that solid long term investment into our region, and the continued program of work will definitely help build skills up," he said.
RE-Alliance National Director Andrew Bray said the ISP would help drive a long period of prosperity for rural and regional Australia.
"An energy transformation on this scale means a multi-year construction boom, with tens of thousands of new jobs created in the regions building wind, solar, and transmission projects and then operating them for the long term," he said.
Mr Bray said we need to start training people to work in the green energy workforce of the future from first semester, 2022.
"Once the projects are happening, state government should be coordinating the rollout of those projects so that a construction team in the New England, who's put on for the first project, can then move onto the next project," he said.
"The construction process is an ongoing years-long project and you've got secure ongoing jobs."
By contrast, community group Responsible Energy for New England believes it is a plan for too much power in the wrong place.
Co-deputy President John Peatfield said renewable developers should generate energy inland, in relatively poorer farming country, in Australia's arid zones.
He said the renewables industry wouldn't create many local jobs, with most construction work being fly-in-fly-out, and the ISP was a plan to industrialise the region.
"It completely changes it from a very productive agricultural community to an industrial estate," he said.
"It's massive overdevelopment and massive cumulative impact."
Following the construction of the New England REZ Transmission Link, the lines will probably need an additional upgrade, the New England REZ Extension.
It would increase network capacity by 5,820 MW at a cost of about $3 billion.
The government should also spend another $1.25 billion on another 1000 MW of transfer capacity from the New England into southern Queensland, the draft plan said.
Aside from more poles and wires, AEMO also issued a call for more virtual transmission capacity in the form of big batteries, to help manage spikes in transmission supply.
Of two "notices of consultation" in the east coast states calling for non-network options to solve the problem, one was issued in the New England REZ area. The other was for Sydney. Submissions for both are due by March 4, 2022.
Updated every two years, the AEMO plan is the energy sector's roadmap, planning three decades into the future.
The 2020 integrated system plan was the basis for the $217 million TransGrid Queensland-NSW Interconnector, which is currently under construction and is due to be completed by the end of the year.
The Hunter Valley contains capacity to produce about 10 GW of power, according to Mr Bray.
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