Queensland, also known as Australia’s sunshine state, will allocate $5 billion towards constructing an 1100km electricity transmission line from the state’s northwest mining region to the national grid. This marks the first time that this region will be linked to the national grid. State-owned transmission provider Powerlink will take over the CopperString 2.0 project planned by private firm CuString to construct a high voltage line from Townsville to the copper, zinc, lead, silver, and potentially phosphate and rare earth minerals-rich northwest. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk stated that the line capacity between Townsville and Hughdenden would be increased to facilitate renewable energy projects’ connection to the grid. The project, set to be completed by 2029, is the most significant investment in economic infrastructure in North Queensland in generations and has bipartisan support. The government aims to open up the region to renewable energy projects, including solar, wind, hydrogen and gas projects, with the potential to create over 6,000 jobs.
$5B electricity transmission project planned in Australia’s Queensland.
