The Sydney Ring is a proposed high capacity 500 kV transmission network to increase supply capacity to Sydney, Wollongong, and Newcastle.
There are two components to the project: the northern option, named the Hunter Transmission Project, and a southern option.
The Hunter Transmission Project (the northern option) will connect the Bayswater Power in the Upper Hunter to the Eraring station in the Lower Hunter.
The future southern option will connect Bannaby and Kemps Creek.
Sydney Ring also includes enabling the 850 MW Waratah Super Battery to unlock extra transmission capacity into the Sydney region.
The completion of the two options will see a fully connected loop through Bannaby, Mt Piper, Bayswater, Eraring, and Kemps Creek.
Key Dates
Dec 2031 | Expected Construction Completion |
Funding contributions
In December 2022, the Federal Government confirmed that the Hunter Transmission Project and the Sydney Southern Ring would be two of the eight projects to receive funding until the combined $7.8 billion Federal and NSW funding package. The package is funded by $4.7 billion from the Commonwealth’s Rewiring the Nation plan and $3.1 billion from the NSW Transmission Acceleration Facility. |
PROJECT HISTORY
Jun 2022 | AEMO's 2022 Integrated Systems Plan lists the project as 'actionable' and estimates the costs of the project at $0.9 billion ±50% for the northern option, and $2.25 billion ±50% for the southern option. |
Dec 2022 | The Federal and NSW governments announced a $7.8 billion deal to support eight critical transmission and REZ projects, including Sydney Ring - Hunter Transmission Project and Sydney Ring - Southern Sydney Ring. |
Jun 2023 | TransGrid releases its System Security Roadmap confirming the estimated cost of the Sydney Ring is approximately $2.5 billion, with the estimated investment cost based on AEMO’s Draft 2023 Transmission Expansion Options Report, AEMO 2022 Integrated System Plan and Transgrid estimates. It also identifies that the expected delivery date for the northern section is 2028 and the southern section is 2031. |
Aug 2023 | TransGrid releases its Transmission Annual Planning Report 2023 confirming delivery dates of 2028 for the northern section and 2031 for the southern section. |
Dec 2023 | AEMO's draft 2024 ISP listed the northern Hunter Transmission Project and investigations on the southern option as 'actionable'. An updated construction completion timeline identifies the Hunter Transmission Project is expected to be completed by December 2027. |