Victoria New South Wales Interconnector RIT-T PSCR

PIAC responded to the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) and TransGrid’s Project Specification Consultation Report (PSCR) for the Victoria New South Wales Interconnector West (VNI West) Regulatory Investment Test for Transmission (RIT-T).

PIAC notes this RIT-T is closely related to and interacts with a number of other transmission projects either underway or still under consultation. We also note since AEMO published this PSCR expressions of interest were sought for the provision of a System Integrity Protection Scheme (SIPS) service capable of enabling an additional import capacity on the existing Victoria – New South Wales interconnector.

PIAC considers these projects may affect the potential costs of the options, in turn affecting the case for deferring network investment through non-network options.

We recommend AEMO provide costings for the VNI West options analysis both with and without the anticipated completion of Minor VNI and HumeLink projects while these are still undergoing regulatory review. We also recommend AEMO clarify how the identified need for this RIT-T is impacted by the proposed provision of a SIPS for Victoria, and reflect this in its analysis of credible options and its consideration of non-network options.