Basslink

Basslink is a HVDC link crossing Bass Strait, connecting the Loy Yang Power Station, Victoria on the Australian mainland to the George Town substation in northern Tasmania. It also includes a fibre optic communications cable. The cable is owned by CitySpring Infrastructure Trust.

History

The cable was built in 2004 as an asset of National Grid Australia Pty Ltd, which itself is 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. [ [http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200604/s1626623.htm Power flows through Basslink. 29/04/2006. ABC News Online ] ]

On 31 August 2007, Cityspring Infrastructure Trust, a wholly owned subsidiary of Temasek, completed the acquisition of Basslink with a total enterprise value of A$1.175 billion.

Overview

Basslink is a monopolar HVDC operating at a nominal voltage of 400 kV DC. The nominal rating of the link is 500 MW although it is capable of transmitting 630 megawatts from George Town to Loy Yang for up to 4 hours.

It consists of:
* 290 kilometre long submarine power cable (the longest of its type in the world) from McGaurans Beach near Giffard, Victoria to Four Mile Bluff above George Town in Tasmania. The cable weighs 60 kg/m. [ [http://www.rttnews.com/sp/breakingnews.asp?date=07/31/2007&item=71&vid=0 National Grid To Sell Basslink Electricity Interconnector] ]
* 60.8 km overhead power line to the Victorian coast
* 6.6 km underground cable in Victoria
* 11 km overhead line section to the Tasmanian coast
* 1.7 km underground cable in Tasmania.

Communications cable

The Basslink cable also includes a run of dark fibre. This is notable as, once it is in commercial operation, it will be the first non-Telstra operated fibre cable crossing Bass Strait. The Tasmanian Government intends to use it, as well as the TasGovNet fibre backbone, as part of the "Connect Tasmania Core" infrastructure to facilitate a more competitive telecommunications industry within the state. [cite web|url=http://www.tenders.tas.gov.au/domino/dtf/dtf.nsf/v-telco/home|title=Telecommunications tenders|publisher=Department of Treasury and Finance (Tasmania)|date=2006-09-07|accessdate=2006-12-13] The link was also to be used by the now defunct OPEL network. [cite press release | title = OPEL Network Fact Sheet | publisher = Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts | url = http://www.minister.dcita.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/69976/Fact_sheet_OPEL_Network.pdf | accessdate = 2007-07-14 ]

References

External links

* http://www.engaust.com.au/magazines/en/pdf/ElectNewsNov.pdf
* http://www.nationalgrid.com.au/document.php?objectID=102
* [http://www.digitaltasmania.org/get-basslink-going Get the Basslink Fibre Going!]