Marinus Link has selected the insurance and risk management firm Lockton as its advisor and broker for its landmark interconnector project. The project is regarded as a key part of Australia's future electricity grid and is expected to supply almost 1.5 million Australian homes with electricity.
“Lockton’s proven major project approach will maximise the market response to what is an epoch-defining project for Australia and the country’s commitment to unlocking renewable energy,” said Anthony Meakin, national manager and project lead at Lockton.
Running between Tasmania and Victoria, the $3.5 billion interconnector is a proposed 1,500-megawatt electricity and telecommunications connection between Victoria and Tasmania involving 255 kilometres of undersea cables.
Marinus Link is a subsidiary of TasNetworks that owns and operates the electricity transmission and distribution networks in Tasmania.
“Helping to deliver the battery of the nation to the mainland, harnessing Tasmania’s world-scale renewable energy generation, is a once in a generation opportunity and our team is immensely honoured to have been selected by Project Marinus,” said Ranga Jayaratne, national manager for power and energy at Lockton.
According to the Lockton media release the scheme will reduce emissions by at least 140 million tonnes of CO2 by 2050. The release compared that to taking about one million cars off the road.
The release also said Project Marinus will create 2,800 direct and indirect jobs through construction, with direct economic investments in regional areas of around $3 billion.
Last month, Marinus Link received a $75 million funding grant from the Australian Government to support the completion of the project.
“There are numerous interconnectors planned, underway or recently completed around the world. However, the availability of insurance capital is discerning in a ‘harder’ market and very selective to which projects to support,” said Meakin.
“Achieving a successful, bankable-insurance program for such a critical project in delivering Australia’s net-zero commitments is our top priority,” added Jayaratne.
