ACCIONA named development partner for major Australian offshore wind transmission project

ACCIONA has been selected as the development partner for the development, financing, construction and 30-year operation of the Gippsland offshore wind 2GW transmission project, under a concession agreement.

VicGrid is the Victorian state government agency responsible for planning, coordinating and developing the electricity transmission grid and renewable energy zones. The project will become the first major transmission network designed to integrate future offshore wind generation in the state, initially unlocking up to 2GW of clean energy capacity in its first phase.

The project will address the technical challenge of transmitting electricity from the sea. As the power will be generated at a considerable distance from the shore, the project includes the installation of a 500kV high-voltage overhead transmission line spanning around 60 kilometers.

The contract also includes the construction of a new 500kV terminal power station in Giffard, which will act as the central hub for receiving electricity from offshore wind turbines and connecting it directly to the Loy Yang energy complex.

NEW LINES

This week, ACCIONA was selected by the Western Australian government to build a key component of the Clean Energy Link East project, an AU$655 million (€410 million) major electricity transmission initiative that will support the state’s energy transition. This builds on ACCIONA’s experience delivering Clean Energy Link North, an initiative that will make around 400MW of existing wind power and an additional 1GW of new renewable energy available to customers.

In addition, ACCIONA, in consortium with COBRA and Endeavour Energy, is responsible for the design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of the transmission network for the Central West Orana Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) in New South Wales. Valued at AU$20 billion (€12.4 billion) through 2030, this is ACCIONA’s largest infrastructure project in Australia and represents the country’s first Renewable Energy Zone. The infrastructure comprises 90 kilometers of 500kV transmission lines and 150 kilometers of 330kV lines, eight substations and an initial deployment capacity of 4.5GW, equivalent to the power supply for two million homes. The first transmission lines were recently strung, marking the start of a critical construction stage to advance the network towards energization from 2028.

ACCIONA, together with Genus, had already been selected by Transgrid, the New South Wales public grid operator, to build the eastern section of the HumeLink electricity transmission line. These AU$1.4 billion (€850 million) projects is one of the country’s largest energy infrastructure challenges.

KEY MARKET

ACCIONA established itself in Australia in 2002 and has since become one of the country’s leading infrastructure companies.

In 2009, the company was awarded one of its flagship projects, the Adelaide desalination plant, with a capacity of 300,000m³ per day to serve two million people. It was the first facility of its kind in the country and incorporated advanced pretreatment technology to improve energy efficiency and increase the recovery of treated water for human consumption.

In 2011, ACCIONA was awarded the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the Mundaring Drinking Water Treatment Plant in Western Australia, which supplies water to the Goldfields region.

More recently, ACCIONA was selected to design, build, operate and maintain the Alkimos desalination plant in Perth for ten years, as part of a broader AU$2.8 billion (€1.73 billion) program of works aimed at securing drinking water for millions of people in the region.

Another major contract in the country is the construction of the tunnels for Melbourne’s Suburban Rail Loop East project, worth AU$3.6 billion (€2.2 billion), which will transform Melbourne’s public transport network, helping the city manage its growth and reduce road traffic.

The company is also building the Western Harbour Tunnel, valued at AU$4.24 billion (€2.75 billion), which will provide a third crossing of Sydney Harbour, significantly reducing congestion in the city.

In addition, ACCIONA built the runway at the new Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport and the central section of Sydney Metro West, the new subway line serving much of the country’s largest city, while it continues to play a key role in removing level crossings across the state of Victoria.

ACCIONA, as part of the CoastalTraX consortium, was recently awarded the contract to design and build one of the two major packages in the first phase of The Wave railway in Queensland, which forms part of the infrastructure development plan for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

At the end of last year, ACCIONA, as part of the ActivUs consortium, won the contract to design and build the main package of the Logan and Gold Coast Faster Rail project, valued at AU$5.75 billion (€3.4 billion), which will improve the efficiency and frequency of public transportation between Brisbane and its coastal areas.