The $3.5bn Project Marinus is a proposed 1500 megawatt electricity and telecommunications connection between Victoria and Tasmania called Marinus Link, plus supporting transmission network developments in Tasmania’s North West. Marinus Link involves approximately 255 kilometers of undersea High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) cable and approximately 90 kilometers of underground HVDC cable.
It will also include converter stations in Tasmania and Victoria, and approximately 220 kilometers of supporting High Voltage Alternating Current (HVAC) transmission network developments in North West Tasmania, allowing for the opportunity for future generation projects to connect along the route.
Generation in Tasmania will need to increase as electricity demand grows from electrifying Tasmania’s sectors such as transport, and from potential new on-island industries such as hydrogen manufacturing.
The current target date for commissioning and commercial operation of the first 750 MW stage is 2027-28, with the commissioning and commercial operation of the second 750 MW stage currently scheduled for 2029-30.
Marinus Link will cut at least 70 million tonnes of CO2 by 2040, but what does that really mean? Will it make a difference?
70 million tonnes of CO2 is equivalent to removing:
– 39 times Tasmania’s current total annual emissions from transport
– 41 times Tasmania’s current total annual emissions from industrial processes
– 29 times Tasmania’s current total annual emissions from agriculture
– 8.5 times Tasmania’s current total positive annual emissions – excluding Land Use, Change and Forestry, which takes CO2 from the atmosphere in Tasmania (negative emissions)
70 million tonnes of CO2 is also equivalent to removing:
– 10 years of emissions from a large coal-fired power station such as Mt Piper, NSW (scheduled for retirement in 2040, and will be NSW’s last coal-fired power station to close)
– 1.5 years of the emissions from all of Australia’s cars
