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Rewiring the Nation is the Australian Government's program to make clean energy more accessible and affordable for Australian consumers. This program is investing $20 billion to modernise our electricity grid and deliver new and upgraded transmission infrastructure. The program is providing finance at concessional rates to minimise the costs of these investments, with the aim of lowering the cost of this essential infrastructure to consumers. Many of Australia’s legacy energy assets, like coal fired power stations, are increasingly unreliable and scheduled to close in coming years. Renewable energy is the lowest cost and lowest emission replacement for these assets.

The Rewiring the Nation program is investing in new transmission lines to deliver affordable, reliable renewable energy to cities, towns and regional communities. This will also help achieve Australia's emissions reduction targets of 43% by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050.

As part of the government’s energy and climate change agenda, this major investment is a key component of how Australia responds to climate change through growing the renewable energy sector.

The ISP (Integrated System Plan) provides a 20-year forecast of the National Electricity Market’s infrastructure needs. The plan recommends investing in transmission to ensure the supply of reliable and secure energy.

Key forecasts by 2050:

• 10,000 km of new transmission lines.
• 6 times the utility-scale wind and solar capacity that we currently have.

The Australian Government has committed $4.7 billion to support investment in New South Wales (NSW) transmission projects.

Priority projects in NSW include:

• The Victoria-New South Wales Interconnector West (VNI West).
• HumeLink.
• The Sydney Ring.
• Renewable Energy Zones in New England and the Hunter Central Coast.

The NSW Government has also committed $3.1 billion to transmission projects and progressing regulatory changes.

The Australian Government has committed $2.25 billion of concessional financing to Victorian projects. This includes:

• Renewable Energy Zones in Victoria.
• The Victoria-New South Wales Interconnector (VNI West).

Additionally, the Australian Government has committed up to $3 billion to modernise the electricity networks in Western Australia. This includes new builds and major upgrades to:

• The North West Interconnected System.
• The South West Interconnected System.

Here are details of few major transmission line projects in progress or recently completed in Australia.