Australia’s Central-West Orana REZ to commence construction

This project will add at least 4.5 gigawatts of network capacity by 2028.

The Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) transmission project is set to begin construction middle of this year after the New South Wales government named its developer reached financial close for the facility.

In a statement, the government said the project, which is Australia’s first declared REZ, will be designed, built, and financed by ACEREZ – a consortium of ACCIONA, COBRA, and Endeavour Energy. It will also operate and maintain the project for the next 35 years.

Early works on the project started in February. It will deliver at least 4.5 gigawatts (GW) of new network capacity by 2028, to connect 7.7 GW of wind and solar projects, which is enough to power more than 2 million homes each year.

The NSW Government is investing $128m in communities that will host the Central-West Orana REZ. The recipients of the first round of grants will soon be announced, to inject funding into the area before major construction starts.