The approval covers a new 110-kilometre, 500 kilovolt transmission line. EnergyCo describes it as closing a critical gap in the state’s electricity network as ageing coal-fired power stations retire, so that generation built in the Central-West Orana and New England Renewable Energy Zones can reach the homes and businesses that need it.
Then, near the end of the same release: Subject to Commonwealth Government
approval, construction is expected to commence in late 2026 and be completed in late
2029.
That is not a technicality. This is Critical State Significant Infrastructure, which is why our earlier piece counted two approvals rather than one: the NSW Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, and separately the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment. The state decision is now made. The federal one is not, and every date in the announcement sits behind it.
What the state approval actually changed
The most concrete change is to the number of people whose land is affected. About 90 per cent of the route will sit on mining, energy and government-owned land, and EnergyCo says the number of directly affected private properties fell from around 70 to fewer than 20 following community feedback.
That is a substantial redesign rather than a rounding, and it is the clearest evidence in the release that the consultation changed the project. It is also the figure worth holding on to when the next transmission corridor is announced and the early route map looks alarming: this one moved.
The approval carries conditions covering social impacts, biodiversity, Aboriginal Cultural
Heritage and local business participation. On biodiversity, the release makes one specific
claim: the approved pathway now avoids nearly all of the breeding ponds of
Littlejohn’s Tree Frog
. Nearly all is a precise phrase and we have not seen the
conditions document, so how many ponds remain affected, and what is required where they do, is
not something this story can tell you.
The jobs numbers, read carefully
EnergyCo puts construction at around 830 jobs, of which more than 160 are in the Hunter, and around 1,500 direct and indirect jobs across NSW. The Hunter figure is the one this masthead cares about and it is roughly one in five of the construction total, for a line whose entire length is in the region.
Our view, and it is opinion: that ratio is unremarkable for transmission work and is worth
saying plainly, because regional infrastructure announcements are routinely read as regional
employment programs. Specialised transmission construction draws on a national workforce.
Minister for the Hunter Yasmin Catley called the project a major vote of confidence in
the Hunter, creating local jobs, backing local businesses and driving investment
, which
is fair on its own terms; 160-plus jobs is real and worth having. It is not the same claim as
the headline number, and the release does not conflate them.
What the ministers said
Minister for Climate Change and Energy Penny Sharpe framed the project by what retires
behind it: it will help keep the lights on as ageing coal-fired power stations
retire
, and is the missing link between the renewable energy being built in
Central-West Orana and New England and the millions of homes, businesses, schools and
hospitals that rely on affordable and reliable electricity every day
. Her description
of what changed is precise: Planning approval means we can get on with building the
infrastructure needed to secure NSW’s energy future.
Planning approval, not
approval.
Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully, whose decision this was, described it
as striking an important balance between progressing a secure energy future,
responsible development and conditions that require the protection of sensitive
areas
.
Where this leaves the ladder
Our four-rung reading of the Hunter grid still holds, with one rung moved partway. The Hunter-Central Coast REZ network upgrade remains the only fully committed project, at full capacity July 2028. The Hunter Transmission Project stays actionable rather than committed until the Commonwealth decides, though it is materially closer than it was a fortnight ago. The 692 km New England link through Bayswater and the costed upgrade option are unchanged.
The date to watch is the Commonwealth environmental decision. Until it lands, “late 2026” is a plan rather than a start.
What the determination says that the release does not
We have read the Notice of Decision and downloaded the Instrument of Approval from the Major Projects register. Three things in them are absent from EnergyCo's announcement, and one of them is the date.
The Minister decided on 27 July, not 29. The register records the application as SSI-70610456, a Critical State significant infrastructure application by Energy Corporation of NSW, approved by the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces under section 5.19 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, with a date of decision of 27 July 2026. The 29 July date is when it was announced. It also records the federal referral this project still needs as EPBC 2024/09874, which is the number to watch for the second approval.
Most people who wrote in objected
The application was exhibited from 27 August to 24 September 2025, 28 days. The Department received 128 unique public submissions: 93 in objection, 25 commenting and 10 in support. Special interest groups filed another 35, of which 15 objected, 18 commented and 2 supported. Departmental officers visited the site on 3 and 4 November 2025.
That is a clear majority of public submissions against, and it did not stop the approval, which is neither surprising nor improper. The Department's position, stated in its reasons, is that the issues raised were considered and adequately addressed through changes to the project and through the conditions, and that weighing all relevant considerations the project is in the public interest. Both halves of that belong in the record: the objections were real and the decision explains itself.
The vegetation number
EnergyCo's release says the approved pathway avoided and minimized impacts on trees
and vegetation wherever possible
and now avoids nearly all the breeding ponds of
Littlejohn's Tree Frog. The determination puts a figure on the same thing:
approximately 945 hectares of native vegetation would be impacted. Around
44 per cent of that is already disturbed to some degree, including derived grasslands,
thinned or plantation woodland, mine rehabilitation and hardwood forestry. About
210 hectares, 22 per cent, would be partially cleared, retaining vegetation
under two metres within certain sections of the easement.
The Department and the Chief Planner's advisers concluded the impacts would not contribute significantly to the risk of extinction of any species or community and would not amount to a Serious and Irreversible Impact. The conditions require a biodiversity management plan including a Threatened Frogs management sub-plan, and require the relevant biodiversity credits to be retired under the NSW Biodiversity Offset Scheme before any development that could affect biodiversity values needing offset.
Our view, labelled as such: 945 hectares is not a scandal for a 110 km transmission line, and it is the kind of number that should be in the first paragraph of any coverage rather than replaced by the words “wherever possible”. A reader can judge a hectare figure. They cannot judge an adverb.
How we sourced this
The approval, the 110 km and 500 kV specifications, the 90 per cent public-land routing, the reduction in directly affected private properties from around 70 to fewer than 20, the conditions covering social impacts, biodiversity, Aboriginal Cultural Heritage and local business participation, the statement about Littlejohn’s Tree Frog breeding ponds, the jobs figures, the late 2026 to late 2029 construction window, the “subject to Commonwealth Government approval” qualification and all three ministerial quotations are from EnergyCo’s news release of 29 July 2026, read on 31 July 2026.
We have not seen the conditions of approval document, the determination itself or any environmental assessment, so we cannot say how many frog breeding ponds remain affected, what the conditions require in detail, or what stage the Commonwealth process has reached. The two-approval structure and the ladder framing are from our own earlier reporting, linked above, which drew on AEMO’s 2026 Integrated System Plan. The paragraph beginning “Our view” is opinion built on the sourced facts above it, and no claim is made about any landowner, contractor or business.
Sources
- NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, Hunter Transmission Project, Major Projects register (SSI-70610456) (read 1 August 2026): the application number, the Critical State significant infrastructure classification, the Approved decision and determination date of 27 July 2026, the Minister as decider, the Cessnock City local government area, and the EPBC referral number 2024/09874.
- NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, Notice of decision - Hunter Transmission Project (downloaded from the Major Projects register and read 1 August 2026): the approval under section 5.19 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, the project scope including 110 km of 500 kV double circuit line on towers up to 85 m and the Bayswater South and Olney switching stations, the approximately 30 month construction period, the exhibition period of 27 August to 24 September 2025, the submission counts of 128 public (93 objecting, 25 commenting, 10 supporting) and 35 special interest group submissions (15 objecting, 18 commenting, 2 supporting), the 3 to 4 November 2025 site visit, the approximately 945 hectares of native vegetation impacted with about 44 per cent already disturbed and approximately 210 hectares partially cleared, the finding that impacts would not constitute a Serious and Irreversible Impact, the biodiversity and Threatened Frogs conditions and the offset-credit retirement requirement, and the stated reasons for decision.
- EnergyCo, Hunter Transmission Project approved, powering jobs and connecting clean, affordable energy to NSW homes (news release, 29 July 2026, read 31 July 2026): the approval and its conditions, the 110 km / 500 kV line, the 90 per cent public-land routing and the reduction in directly affected private properties, the Littlejohn's Tree Frog breeding ponds statement, the 830 construction jobs including more than 160 in the Hunter and around 1,500 direct and indirect across NSW, the late 2026 to late 2029 construction window and its qualification as subject to Commonwealth Government approval, and the quotations from Ministers Penny Sharpe, Yasmin Catley and Paul Scully.
- The Connection Point, Four transmission projects will shape the Hunter grid's next decade. Exactly one is committed: the four-rung ladder, the project's actionable status and the two-approval requirement, drawn from AEMO's 2026 Integrated System Plan.
Updated 1 August 2026. The original was written from EnergyCo's release. We have since read the Notice of Decision and Instrument of Approval on the Major Projects register, and added what they carry and it does not: the decision date of 27 July (the 29th was the announcement), the application and EPBC referral numbers, the submission counts showing 93 of 128 public submissions objected, and the figure of about 945 hectares of native vegetation impacted. Nothing in the original was wrong and no figure in it changed.
Spotted an error, or hold land on the route? Tell us and we will check it against the sources and log the outcome here.