Annual Report 2021/22

In 2021/22, Powerlink focused on bringing the business strategy to life to enable the energy transformation, with a clear purpose of connecting Queenslanders to a world-class energy future. The work we do for Queenslanders has never been more important as we move towards a low carbon economy.

Highlights of 2021/22

• All major elements of our 2023-27 Revised Revenue Proposal were accepted by the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) in its Final Decision which sets Powerlink’s annual regulated revenue over the next five years. We were proud to have both our Customer Panel and the AER state that our Revenue Proposal was ‘capable of acceptance’. The AER’s decision will see a reduction in Powerlink’s contribution to the average annual electricity bill for the typical residential and small business customer, which in 2022/23 will decrease by 2.5 per cent.
• We received the national 2021 Energy Network Consumer Engagement Award for our consumer engagement process implemented during the 2023-27 revenue determination process. This award is run jointly by Energy Networks Australia and Energy Consumers Australia.
• In response to a range of complex and challenging factors such as heatwave conditions, record summer peak demand and possible shortfalls in Queensland’s electricity supply during both summer and winter, our network continued to operate safely, securely and reliably.
• We completed construction work on two new renewable connection projects, which added 482 megawatts (MW) of generation capacity to the National Electricity Market. We also reached connection agreements for a further three renewable generators and battery energy storage systems (BESS) that will add 615MW of generation capacity in Queensland.
• Powerlink has progressed works to support the Northern Queensland REZ (QREZ), commencing construction activities for the Kaban Green Power Hub Connection Project and upgrading parts of our transmission network in Far North Queensland from 132kV to 275kV.
• We sought advice from the Gugu Badhun Aboriginal Corporation (GBAC) to nominate a name for the proposed switching station at Mount Fox for the Genex Kidston Connection Project in North Queensland. The Gugu Badhun People selected the name Guybal Munjan™, which means ‘fire mountain’ in local language.
• We completed a full upgrade of our 20-year-old SAP system on-time and on-budget, transitioning to the contemporary SAP S/4 HANA which included re-platforming the entire system to the cloud. Powerlink’s unique staged approach and successful delivery of the project has been recognised across Australia and globally, and unlocks a number of process efficiencies and improvements.