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Basslink
The Basslink (/ˈbæslɪŋk/) electricity interconnector is a 370 km (230 mi) 500 MW (670,000 hp) high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cable linking the electricity grids of the states of Victoria and Tasmania in Australia, crossing Bass Strait, connecting the Loy Yang Power Station, Victoria on the Australian mainland to the George Town substation in northern Tasmania. Basslink is bidirectional and enables Hydro Tasmania to supply some of the peak load capacity to the Australian mainland and take some of the excess power from the mainland when the generation on the mainland exceeds the demand.
Financial benefits from the Basslink investment included reduced or deferred need to invest in further base load generation facilities, and potential to profit from selling peak load power into a market in which prices are generally higher, and because the cable was also used to supply power to Tasmania in times of drought, as most of Tasmania's electricity generation is hydroelectricity. A government review of Basslink in 2011 found, "Basslink-related costs have been around $130 million ($ nominal) greater than the actual revenue benefits... [However] Taking both direct and indirect sources of value [such as increased energy security in times of drought] together, Hydro Tasmania concludes that over the period 2006-07 to 2010-11 the average net benefit of Basslink to its business is in excess of $40 million per annum". However economist John Lawrence estimated that the 2015-2016 Basslink outage cost Hydro "between $140 and $180 million."
Basslink is owned by APA Group (Australia) after acquisition in October 2022.
When the Board of Hydro Tasmania originally entered into a preliminary agreement to build Basslink in 2000, it was projected to cost A$500 million. Efforts to prevent corrosion of pipelines and other factors ultimately meant it cost around A$800m to build.
The interconnector was constructed between 2003 and 2005 as an asset of National Grid Australia Pty Ltd, which itself was owned by UK company National Grid plc.
On 1 December 2005, electrical power flowed across Basslink for the first time, as part of the testing procedure. At midnight on the morning of Saturday, 29 April 2006, the link was officially enabled for commercial trading of energy on the National Electricity Market.
On 31 August 2007, CitySpring Infrastructure Trust, a wholly owned subsidiary of Temasek, completed the acquisition of Basslink Pty. Ltd. group, i.e. a conglomerate of 10 commercial subjects owning the Basslink cable infrastructure, with a total enterprise value of AU$1.175 billion.
Since then, CitySpring Infrastructure Trust has morphed into the Keppel Infrastructure Trust, which is listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange, two thirds owned by the public and one third by Temasek, the $350 billion sovereign wealth fund of the Singapore government.
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Basslink
The Basslink (/ˈbæslɪŋk/) electricity interconnector is a 370 km (230 mi) 500 MW (670,000 hp) high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cable linking the electricity grids of the states of Victoria and Tasmania in Australia, crossing Bass Strait, connecting the Loy Yang Power Station, Victoria on the Australian mainland to the George Town substation in northern Tasmania. Basslink is bidirectional and enables Hydro Tasmania to supply some of the peak load capacity to the Australian mainland and take some of the excess power from the mainland when the generation on the mainland exceeds the demand.
Financial benefits from the Basslink investment included reduced or deferred need to invest in further base load generation facilities, and potential to profit from selling peak load power into a market in which prices are generally higher, and because the cable was also used to supply power to Tasmania in times of drought, as most of Tasmania's electricity generation is hydroelectricity. A government review of Basslink in 2011 found, "Basslink-related costs have been around $130 million ($ nominal) greater than the actual revenue benefits... [However] Taking both direct and indirect sources of value [such as increased energy security in times of drought] together, Hydro Tasmania concludes that over the period 2006-07 to 2010-11 the average net benefit of Basslink to its business is in excess of $40 million per annum". However economist John Lawrence estimated that the 2015-2016 Basslink outage cost Hydro "between $140 and $180 million."
Basslink is owned by APA Group (Australia) after acquisition in October 2022.
When the Board of Hydro Tasmania originally entered into a preliminary agreement to build Basslink in 2000, it was projected to cost A$500 million. Efforts to prevent corrosion of pipelines and other factors ultimately meant it cost around A$800m to build.
The interconnector was constructed between 2003 and 2005 as an asset of National Grid Australia Pty Ltd, which itself was owned by UK company National Grid plc.
On 1 December 2005, electrical power flowed across Basslink for the first time, as part of the testing procedure. At midnight on the morning of Saturday, 29 April 2006, the link was officially enabled for commercial trading of energy on the National Electricity Market.
On 31 August 2007, CitySpring Infrastructure Trust, a wholly owned subsidiary of Temasek, completed the acquisition of Basslink Pty. Ltd. group, i.e. a conglomerate of 10 commercial subjects owning the Basslink cable infrastructure, with a total enterprise value of AU$1.175 billion.
Since then, CitySpring Infrastructure Trust has morphed into the Keppel Infrastructure Trust, which is listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange, two thirds owned by the public and one third by Temasek, the $350 billion sovereign wealth fund of the Singapore government.
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