Marinus Link project takes baby steps forward

The convoluted regulatory processes to allow the mooted Marinus Link to be built moved forward this month, with the Australian Energy Regulator kicking off the first of three determination processes the project will require.

If built, Marinus Link would be a two-cable, 1500MW electricity transmission link across the Bass Strait, which would also host another submarine data cable to the island state.

Today there are only two fibre operators with Tasmania data links: Telstra, with two cables, and Basslink, which also pairs electrical transmission with a submarine fibre.

Basslink is owned by APA Group, which acquired it out of administration in 2022.

The AER’s June paper [pdf] is a “decision to commence transmission determination” on the 1500MW, $3.8 billion project.

The project itself is still years away, with the AER setting out a process in which Marinus Link would run before February 2024.

The AER’s decision is the first in three determinations it will have to make for a final investment decision in December 2024, before construction begins in 2025.

Marinus Link’s next AER engagements will be about its early works costs (to be complete by July), followed by construction costs (February 2024), and pricing methodology by January 2027.

The only other proposal to build a submarine cable to Tasmania was made by SubPartners (now owned by Superloop), which first mooted the project in 2015 as part of its Perth-Sydney cable.