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Tasmania interconnector to boost Australia’s renewable grid
26/3/2025
8 min read
Feature
The rugged island of Tasmania is already a model for renewable energy projects, and a new interconnector could help it deliver green power to the Australian mainland. Barbara Barkhausen reports from Sydney, Australia.
Tasmania’s electricity grid runs on energy that is more than 90% renewable, harnessing the power of its rivers and lakes, using an expansive network of dams and turbines to generate clean, renewable hydro energy. This is further enriched by wind power, with wind farms on the coast fuelled by the ‘roaring forties’, the strong westerly winds that occur between the latitudes of 40° and 50° south.
Currently, the island’s 570,000 population has limited connections to the Australian mainland. However, an ambitious new project, the Marinus Link, is proposed to provide an underground and subsea 1.5 GW transmission line and data connector between Tasmania and mainland Victoria (6.5 million population). The project could be delivered in two stages, each of 750 MW capacity, and transform the island into a significant clean energy exporter.
The project includes high voltage direct current (HVDC) cables, fibre optic cables, a communications station, and converter stations at each end. The link will connect a converter station at Heybridge, in Tasmania’s north-west to Waratah Bay, in Victoria. Once in Victoria, the cable will run underground about 90 km to a second converter station in Hazelwood. The project will be operated by Marinus Link Pty, which is jointly owned by the national Commonwealth, Victorian and Tasmanian state governments.