Powerlink Queensland has announced that a transmission line project worth A$37 million to reinforce electricity supply in the inland central Queensland mining area is up and running.
Geoff Wilson, Australia’s minister for mines and energy, said: Powerlink built a new 68km high voltage powerline between its existing substations at Lilyvale and Blackwater.
State member for Fitzroy, Jim Pearce, said: The new transmission line project is vital infrastructure to help underpin the economic development in the mining industry in the region.
According to Mr Pearce, electricity demand in the area is forecast to grow at an average of 4% a year for the next few years.
Mr Pearce said that the Bowen basin coal mining region produces around 85% of Queensland’s coal, and attributed the growth to mining industry developments in the southern Bowen basin.