Through Marinus Link, Battery of the Nation and Green Hydrogen Tasmanians stand to benefit from a pipeline of projects that will provide jobs and opportunity throughout the next decade and beyond, especially for families in North-West Tasmania.
This represents one of the greatest inter-generational energy and jobs skills opportunities in Tasmania’s history.
On the back of more than 100 years of our hydropower history, we are now unlocking the next wave of renewable energy development in Tasmania, driving job creation and future economic growth.
With Marinus Link and Battery of the Nation, Tasmania will be well placed to provide affordable, reliable and clean energy while strengthening Tasmania’s energy security and further growing on-island energy use.
Marinus Link is crucial to deliver Tasmania’s 200 per cent renewable energy target by supercharging Hydro Tasmania and renewable energy development. It will be a critical enabler for green hydrogen and other energy intensive industries being established in the State and the further expansion of our existing industrial load.
Tasmania needs this additional energy if we are to further expand and grow and simply put, more electricity means more jobs.
Marinus Link in Tasmania, means more jobs in regional Tasmania with a particular focus on the North-West, including 1400 direct and indirect jobs in Tasmania through the construction period and unlocking more than $7 billion in additional renewable energy developments alone.
We are already investing in the skilled workforce to build these projects through the $16 million Energising Tasmania partnership with the Australian Government to develop the expertise required for Battery of the Nation, Project Marinus and the ongoing success of our renewable energy and related sectors.
We have secured the Marinus Link head office for Tasmania, ensuring that we can attract and retain more skilled jobs in the State.
This means more opportunities for local businesses. For example, there are already 15 local contractors and subcontractors involved in the Marinus Link geotechnical investigations, including local business CoreMarine who are providing offshore operational support for the work in Bass Strait.
There will also be more than 600 direct jobs through Battery of the nation, with hundreds more created through further investment in our State.
There will be significant on-island employment created at the estimated $500 million Heybridge converter-station and the $1.5 billion 750 megawatt pumped-hydro project at Lake Cethana. In addition, the planned $700 million redevelopment of the Tarraleah Power Station and $300 million for upgrades for West Coast power stations will provide jobs for years to come.
Marinus Link will also deliver savings of at least 140 million tonnes of CO2 by 2050, the equivalent of taking a million cars off the road and there will also be telecommunications benefits, with Marinus Link carrying additional fibre optic links from Tasmania to the mainland that are 150 times the existing Bass Strait capacity, helping to create new opportunities in our ICT industry and for business more broadly.