About the network infrastructure project

The New England Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) will be serviced by new network infrastructure, including transmission lines, energy hubs and enabling infrastructure which will transfer power generated by solar, wind and storage projects to electricity consumers. This infrastructure will be critical for the successful operation of the REZ. EnergyCo is leading the development of the REZ transmission network infrastructure as the Infrastructure Planner for the REZs in NSW.

Some of this infrastructure will need to be built outside the New England REZ geographical area to connect the REZ to the main backbone transmission network. EnergyCo is in the early stages of assessing what new network infrastructure should be built to unlock and service the New England REZ.

Refining the corridor to minimise community and environmental impacts

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).

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. 

Network operator update

EnergyCo is running a competitive procurement process to appoint a network operator for the REZ network infrastructure project. The procurement is one of the biggest of its kind in NSW.

The network operator is one of EnergyCo’s key partners for the New England REZ and will design, construct, finance, operate and maintain new transmission lines and related infrastructure, such as energy hubs (substations), that will connect the REZ to the NSW grid. 

We’re procuring a network operator now to ensure we can plan the New England REZ carefully, deliver the new energy network on time and keep the lights on across NSW as our coal-fired power stations retire. 

You can read more about the latest status of the procurement process for the network operator on our webpage here or in our latest media release. 

Next steps

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.