Working with the community - New England Renewable Energy Zone

Community and stakeholder feedback, alongside detailed field investigations and technical assessments, have helped us refine to a 1km-wide transmission corridor from the New England REZ to the existing electricity grid at Bayswater Power Station.

You can view the refined corridor on our interactive map or on our video below. 

Through our work to refine the corridor, we have:

• reduced the number of impacted landholders from around 200 to around 150, with further reductions expected in detailed design
• avoided environmentally sensitive areas at Timor Caves and near Barry
• placed infrastructure further away from dwellings to minimise impacts on homes, while balancing terrain and environmental considerations
• reduced visual impacts at properties near Gundy, Waverly and Timor by locating infrastructure further away from dwellings and public viewpoints
• prioritised areas where landholders have expressed interest in hosting REZ infrastructure.

You can read more about this on our corridor refinement - landholder fact sheet (April 2026).

Our team is continuing to develop visual, biodiversity, social, heritage and other studies to build a clear picture of the local environment and community values as we develop the environmental impact statement (EIS). Our EIS assessments are based on a narrower corridor of around 250m-wide located within the broader 1km corridor. 

We are sharing this proposed 250m wide EIS corridor with landholders now to give a clearer picture of potential transmission line impacts and inform further discussions with EnergyCo. The 1km-wide corridor, and the narrower EIS corridor, are available to view on our interactive map.

Over the coming months, we will continue to work closely with landholders in the corridor to help us understand property-specific needs. We encourage landholders to continue engaging with our team to share any insights about their property that may help inform further refinements to the corridor.

Feedback report now available

In October 2025, we invited community feedback on a 3km-wide study area between Muswellbrook and Walcha for the proposed 500kV transmission corridor. We received 481 submissions during the feedback period, and in early April we published a feedback report on our website which outlines the key issues raised by the community and our responses. 

Click here to read the report

Thank you to all participants who shared detailed feedback and local insights. We will continue to engage directly with landholders as planning progresses. 

Social impact assessment survey

As part of the current planning and assessment of the New England Renewable Energy Zone network infrastructure project, EnergyCo has engaged Umwelt to undertake the Social Impact Assessment (SIA) and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The SIA in particular aims to understand community views, interests, and concerns to be able to understand the potential impacts of the project, to be able to minimise any negative effects and to enhance the opportunities and social benefits.

We are seeking feedback from across the community to understand the social impacts which may be experienced as a result of the project from your perspectives. For this reason, we invite you to take part in an online survey.  All feedback will be treated confidently, de-identified and only used in the SIA Report, which will be publicly available as part of the EIS. An Umwelt SIA Ethics & Participation Information Sheet is available for participant information. 

Complete the survey
 

Keeping you informed

We are committed to working closely with landowners and the community as we design the New England REZ. Local community input is important and helps to ensure our planning for the project balances project objectives with community needs and priorities.

We understand different communication methods suit different people, which is why we use a range of channels to engage with communities, including:

• Regular e-newsletters – click here to subscribe
• Pop-up information stalls, community information sessions and our REZ mobile office in the region
• Hardcopy project updates delivered to letterboxes in the project area
• A dedicated phone number and email address
• Surveys

Visit our new REZ mobile offices in your area

We are inviting our communities to visit our new ‘REZ mobile office’ from mid-May where our team members will be available to provide information, answer questions and collect feedback on the project.

The REZ mobile office will be set up regularly in different locations across the project footprint. Anyone is welcome to walk in and chat with our team during the advertised opening hours.

We’ve established two community reference groups (CRG) for the New England REZ to provide an open forum of discussion between EnergyCo, the community and key stakeholders:

• The north community reference group represents communities within the REZ
• The south community reference group represents communities between the REZ and Bayswater in the south, near Muswellbrook

Meetings are generally held quarterly and are facilitated by an Independent Chair, Margaret Harvie. 

Join the community reference group

We are currently seeking new members to join the New England REZ community reference groups.

There are two vacancies available in the north community reference group and two vacancies in the south community reference group.

The CRGs provide an opportunity for community members to share local knowledge, raise issues and provide feedback to EnergyCo as the project progresses. We are particularly seeking people who can represent local community, environmental and business interests, and who are interested in contributing to open and constructive discussion.

If you are interested in applying, please send your application to nerez@energyco.nsw.gov.au.

Applications close on Friday 5 June. 

• CRG application form
• CRG code of conduct
• CRG terms of reference