New England REZ (NSW)

Helping the NSW Government deliver the state’s largest Renewable Energy Zone

The NSW Government has begun planning, development and commercial activities for the New England Renewable Energy Zone.

New England has some of the best natural energy resources in the country and some of the state’s best potential sites for pumped-hydro development. Upon completion, the New England REZ will be the largest such zone in the State and one of the largest transmission projects in Australia’s history.

New England REZ is expected to unlock up to 8 GW of new network capacity by 2036, bring in up to $10.7 billion in private investment to the region and provide around 830 operational jobs each year.

The project, operated by the statutory authority, EnergyCo, involves construction of 575 linear kilometres of high voltage transmission line, substations and energy hubs to connect generation and storage facilities into the NSW electricity transmission network.

The project also requires extensive coordination with proposed generation and storage developments to ensure that the network is fit for purpose and is a prudent and efficient investment.

Our role

EnergyCo has engaged MBB to manage project development activities for New England REZ. This involves setting overall strategy for the development of the project, coordination of all workstreams and stakeholder management across senior leadership within EnergyCo, generation developers and regulatory and assurance bodies (AER, Consumer Trustee, TAF Investment Committee, INSW).

Effective stakeholder and interface management is critical.

The New England REZ is a highly complex project. Successful delivery will require balancing the expectations of the affected communities with commercial, regulatory, technical, property acquisition and environmental planning considerations. Interdependencies in the surrounding transmission network, including Central-West Orana REZ, Hunter Transmission Project and the Queensland-NSW Interconnector, introduce additional complexity during the development phase.

Due to the legislative and regulatory regimes that apply to this project, a large number of stakeholders need to be consulted or informed of the development activities. These include AER, Consumer Trustee, Transmission Acceleration Fund, Renewable Energy Sector Board and the EnergyCo Advisory Committee. MBB has developed strong, ongoing working relationships with each of these stakeholders.

Additionally, the early closure of Australia’s largest coal fire generator, Eraring Power Station, has been brought forward to August 2025. This closure puts added pressure on EnergyCo to deliver the REZ earlier than previously scheduled. MBB are working closely with EnergyCo to accelerate the delivery program.

Our services

• Interface Management
• Project Controls
• Commercial, Transaction and Finance
• Technical
• Regulatory and REZ Generation
• Land and Property
• Environmental Planning