Billions of dollars of power lines to be built in New England in new plan released by Australian Energy Market Operator

The newly-released Australian Energy Market Operator's (AEMO) Integrated System Plan (ISP), plans to make the New England region among the most significant energy generation regions in NSW.

The power regulator used the plan to bring forward a propsal to spend an estimated $1.9 billion on the poles and wires for the New England REZ Transmission Link.

The project had been scheduled to finish in 2027-2028 in a draft issued earlier this year.

It is now listed to be completed by July 2027 at the latest.

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"Without this project, investment in more expensive, larger-scale and/or poorer quality alternative generation and transmission resources would be needed," according to the plan.

Tamworth-based engineering advisory firm director Llewellyn Owens said the new plan had two big messages: coal plants are closing and renewables will replace them - both much faster than expected.

And the system needs far more storage, with Australia needing to increase its battery storage capacity by a factor of 30 times.

"That means basically we need a huge amount more [transmission] infrastructure," he said.

"It's good old supply and demand. Essentially the existing supply is moving out, so we need a new supplier in renewables. We need more warehouses; so we need more storage capacity.

"And actually the new supplier's going to be in a different area, so we need all the new transmission lines to get the product out to market."

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The Efficacy Advisors managing director said the 2027 deadline for build out of the New England REZ Transmission Link was, if anything, too slow given the speed of construction from generators.

He said construction of both transmission and generation projects would create thousands of local jobs.

"My aim still is to try and get engineers here so we can get renewable jobs here, not out of Sydney and Brisbane to deliver these projects," he said.

"That will benefit the economy as a whole. More people, more skilled people, more investment."

Uralla farmer and NSW Farmers executive councillor for the region, Richard Croft, said local landholders don't want the green energy boom.

Renewables should be built either in desert areas to the west of the New England, or offshore, or on the coast, he said.

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"People just don't want it. People stand up in public and say: I don't want this. I live in New England because New England is a beautiful place to live," he said.

"Serious people with a lot of brains in tears, saying 'we have worked so hard to preserve this landscape and you want to come along and put wind towers on it'? Are you serious?"

He said the projects would create a handful of jobs locally, because most of the power would be exported to metropolitan areas.

The energy market plan also confirms earlier estimates that the New England "has the potential to become one of the largest renewable energy zones" in the entire east coast energy market, boasting some 10.4 gigawatts of power by 2040.

It also shows that the state government will now be responsible for building the transmission link scheme, through its EnergyCo subsidiary, rather than the Commonwealth.

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The plan estimates the link will contribute $5.5 billion in "net market benefits" alone, unlock 6000 megawatts of renewable power and storage capacity in the New England and improve transfer capacity between the region and existing transmission network in the Hunter region.

AEMO estimates that it will cost $1.9 billion, give or take 50 per cent.

The regulator also plans for a future additional $3.1 billion transmission upgrade to enable an additional 5,820 megawatts of power export from New England, to be built by the 2030s.

Both upgrades would dwarf the huge $217 million upgrade of the region's Queensland-NSW interconnector, which was started last year based on the 2020 ISP.

The 2022 plan was a finalised version of a draft plan published in December last year.

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