Economist Report Defends Marinus Link as National Interest Project

Abc reported that independent economist Saul Eslake authored a report for Clean Energy Tasmania that defends the Marinus Link project as an investment in the national interest. The report states the 750-megawatt cable between Tasmania and the National Electricity Market, with plans for a second cable, will boost energy sector development and give prospective investors greater confidence in supply.

Eslake said the project will help break a deadlock that has existed in Tasmania for more than a decade.

Without greater generation capacity it has been difficult to attract energy-intensive users, while potential new generators have lacked confidence that demand would exist for their output. The last new electricity generation added in Tasmania was the Granville Harbour Wind Farm in 2020.

The report follows an analysis released last week by the Victoria Energy Policy Centre, commissioned by the Bob Brown Foundation, which concluded that Marinus Link would impose very large needless costs on electricity consumers and taxpayers.

Climate Change Authority chair Matt Kean also recently questioned the project's viability after Singapore-based Firmus flagged three sites across Tasmania's north for AI data centre developments and began construction of a Launceston green AI campus that has already secured 100 megawatts of Tasmanian energy.

Marinus Link is a jointly owned project between the Tasmanian and federal governments. Stage one is projected for completion by 2030 at a cost of just under $5 billion for the subsea cable and North-West Transmission Line.

Tasmania's contribution to construction costs is less than 5 per cent. The state's current 500-megawatt Basslink interconnector failed in 2015 and is expected to reach end of life in 2046. Marinus Link chief stakeholder Claire Gleghorn said the project has already delivered measurable benefits to Tasmania's north-west, with 14 Tasmanian business contracts awarded.