Downer takes on Delburn grid connection

Downer has been appointed by AusNet to build the grid connection for Victoria's 205MW Delburn wind farm to the state's transmission network. This is Victoria's first publicly-owned utility-scale wind project.

Where this fits

Every new renewable generator needs a dedicated transmission link to the grid. Delburn is a single 205MW wind farm requiring its own connection infrastructure. This exemplifies the transmission cost and construction timeline that renewables impose on the grid as a whole. A single firm power plant of equivalent capacity would need no additional line, or far less. The grid overbuild required to absorb weather-dependent generation, then route that variable power across long distances, is a major hidden cost of a renewables-heavy system that rarely appears in per-megawatt-hour comparisons.

What it means

Victoria is building expensive new transmission for a single wind farm. Multiply this across dozens of new renewable sites scattered across the state and interstate, and the cumulative transmission cost becomes substantial. More: each connection takes years to plan and construct, delaying the moment the generator can feed power to users. A firm alternative, nuclear or gas, avoids this layer of infrastructure cost and timeline risk. Australia is paying the full price of a renewables transition without counting transmission as part of the true system cost, and without the option of the low-material, long-lived firm alternative that would avoid much of this spending.