Australian Government and Tasmanian Government have signed a State Energy and Emissions Reduction Deal

New Delhi: The Australian Government is working with state and territory governments to establish bilateral agreements that accelerate cooperation on energy and emissions reduction projects.

The Australian Government and Tasmanian Government have signed a State Energy and Emissions Reduction Deal. Through this agreement, the governments will work closely to further develop the Marinus Link and Battery of the Nation projects.

These are transformative projects which are expected to reduce power prices, improve reliability, and unlock new generation sources, including Tasmania’s deep pumped hydro storage and world‑class wind resources.

The Australian Government will contribute a further $93.9 million as part of the agreement to progress the Marinus Link project to a financial investment decision, in addition to Tasmania’s contribution of $39 million.

If constructed, Marinus Link will enable the transmission of an additional 1,500 megawatts of electricity between Tasmania and the mainland. It would also help unlock 400 megawatts of existing dispatchable generation (enough to power up to 400,000 homes) that cannot be exported to the mainland due to limited BassLink capacity.

Marinus Link is expected to boost the Tasmanian and Victorian economies by around $2.9 billion and create an estimated 2,800 jobs during the project’s construction phase.

The Hon Angus Taylor MP, Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction, said this deal with Tasmania demonstrates the Australian Government’s commitment to ensuring households and businesses across the country can access affordable and reliable power.

‘Energy projects like this also represent a massive economic opportunity for Australia as we recover from the COVID-19 recession.’

The governments expect to announce more emissions reduction projects as part of the deal in 2021.