Western Sydney high-voltage network upgrade

The NSW Minister for Energy, Paul Lynch, and the Member for Smithfield, Ninos Khoshaba, announced a $569 million investment in Western Sydney’s high-voltage electricity grid.

The proposed Western Sydney Supply Project, to be delivered by the state-owned corporation TransGrid, is the result of joint planning activities with EnergyAustralia over the last several years.

“This essential project will help reinforce the electricity supply to the growing inner western areas of Sydney, where peak summer demand is forecast to increase by around 20% over the next decade,” Lynch said. “The annual growth of these areas is 80 MW, the equivalent of electricity used by 60,000 average homes - a quarter of NSW’s average growth in peak demand.”

The project includes the construction of two new substations, 14 km of underground cable to connect the substations and increasing the capacity of an existing transmission line in the area.

The two substations will supply power directly to Integral Energy and EnergyAustralia’s networks which service the Inner Western Suburbs of Sydney as well as Parramatta, Guildford, Potts Hill, Camellia and Sefton.

Lynch said the new electrical link was part of the government’s long-term strategy to increase the security of Sydney’s power supply: “The NSW government is committed to ensuring continued levels of electricity reliability currently enjoyed by Sydneysiders into the future. This project is TransGrid’s biggest ever investment in Sydney’s transmission network.”

Khoshaba said TransGrid had just completed the $334 million Western 500 Project, the largest project ever undertaken by the NSW transmission network operator: “The completion of the Western 500 Project is a milestone in the development of the NSW transmission grid and is the result of long-term planning by TransGrid over the past 30 years.

“The project is part of a $1.3 billion capital-works program undertaken by TransGrid between 2004 and 2009 on the NSW transmission network, which forms part of the national electricity grid.”

The project involved constructing four new 500 kV substations and upgrading existing transmission lines to form a 500 kV high-voltage link between Wollongong, Sydney and Newcastle with the major electricity generation regions.

It will help cater for the future electricity needs of the growing Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong areas.

As well as meeting future demand, the project will increase the efficiency of the NSW transmission grid, reducing the amount of electricity lost while being transported by approximately 50,000 MWh, the equivalent to taking 6600 average homes off the grid and reducing carbon emissions by over 47,000 tonnes of CO₂.