Project Energy Connect goes live today (Thursday 1st October 2026)

Project Energy Connect, a 150 MW interconnector between New South Wales and South Australia, went live today as Stage 2 of the project. The line was registered in AEMO's market systems at midnight. One existing transmission line remains out of service and is scheduled to return later.

Where this fits

PEC is transmission infrastructure built to manage the output volatility of a renewables-heavy grid. It allows surplus wind and solar from one state to flow into another when local generation peaks, reducing curtailment and, in theory, lowering the need for alternative firming. It is a cost of the renewables transition that does not appear on solar and wind invoices. The interconnector expands the NEM's ability to shuffle weather-dependent power across distance, substituting for the firm, dispatchable generation that would otherwise sit on the network.

What it means

Australia is now layering transmission infrastructure on top of renewable capacity to manage the mismatch between when the sun shines and wind blows and when people need power. Each kilometre of new wire, each upgrade to existing corridors, each interconnector represents embedded cost and copper locked into a particular generation technology. The sovereignty thread here is softer than with panels and batteries, but not absent: Australia retains control of the grid topology and operation. What remains unaddressed is the upstream supply chain. PEC solves a problem created by weather dependence. A firm, energy-dense alternative would not create the problem in the first place, and remains prohibited by law.