Queensland New South Wales Interconnector Upgrade RIT-T PADR

PIAC responded to the PADR for the Queensland to NSW Interonnector (QNI) upgrade Regulatory Investment Test for Transmission (RIT-T). 

PIAC agrees with the proposed preferred option: Option 1a – upgrading the Liddell to Tamworth transmission lines, installing new dynamic reactive support at Tamworth and Dumaresq, and shunt capacitor banks at Tamworth, Dumaresq and Armidale. 

PIAC also strongly supports this RIT-T focussing only on the short-term need flagged in the 2018 Integrated System Plan (ISP) and that, in line with the AER’s guidance, Transgrid and Powerlink should undertake a separate RIT-T process for the more substantive, medium-term upgrade. 

PIAC highlights principles for the allocation of cost and risk of the project. PIAC considers that risk should be borne by those best placed to manage it while costs should be recovered on a beneficiary-pays basis. Where there are multiple beneficiaries, costs should be recovered proportionally to their share of the benefits. 

We also note that work should be done to determine how benefits are accruing across different NEM regions and assess whether the project has a net benefit in each affected jurisdiction.