Build a major transmission line — sequential easement pathway

Two cost-benefit tests, two environmental assessments, and an easement acquisition that cannot start until the assessment finishes. The delays that have actually bitten are in the last of those, not the first.

energyA multi-hundred-kilometre high voltage transmission line designated actionable in the Integrated System Plan, crossing private agricultural land draft compare across jurisdictions

4110 days elapsed
longest dependent chain

10 discrete steps
across 5 bodies

0% waiting on availability
scheduling or queue, not assessment

1204 days saved by concurrency
vs. 5314 if run end-to-end

Where the time goes

Critical-path days only. Steps that run alongside others are real work but do not lengthen the process, so counting them here would overstate the prize.

assessment	1886d	Someone is genuinely evaluating the merits.
third party	1080d	Waiting on an external body outside the regulator's control.
applicant	900d	Waiting on the applicant to supply or fix something.
statutory	244d	A legislated period that must elapse regardless of readiness.

The process, step by step

Applies when: An actionable ISP project where compulsory easement acquisition may only commence after environmental assessment concludes.

#	Step	Who	Why it waits	Clock	Typical	Basis
1	Identified as an actionable project in the Integrated System Plan assessment A whole-of-system cost-benefit process concludes the project is needed and designates it actionable.	Australian Energy Market Operator	assessment	—	365 estimate	—
2	Project specification consultation report and consultation notification First stage of the regulatory investment test: the identified need and credible options are published for consultation. after Identified as an actionable project in the Integrated System Plan 3546d slack	Transmission network service provider	statutory	—	199 published	National Electricity Rules, clause 5.16.4 (not part of the clause 5.16A procedure for actionable ISP projects)
3	Project assessment draft report and consultation notification The draft report is published and submissions are sought on the proposed preferred option. after Project specification consultation report and consultation 3501d slack	Transmission network service provider	statutory	42	45 legislated	National Electricity Rules, clause 5.16A.4
4	Project assessment conclusions report decision Final stage of the regulatory investment test, concluding which option maximises net market benefit. after Project assessment draft report and consultation 2980d slack	Transmission network service provider	assessment	—	521 published	National Electricity Rules, clause 5.16A.4
5	Contingent project application and revenue determination decision The transmission business applies to recover the project's capital expenditure from consumers. after Project assessment conclusions report 2756d slack	Australian Energy Regulator	assessment	56	224 published	National Electricity Rules, clause 6A.8.2
6	Route selection and landholder engagement application Refine the corridor, negotiate access for survey, and begin easement negotiations with affected landholders. after Project assessment conclusions report 2440d slack	Transmission network service provider	third party	—	540 estimate	—
7	Commonwealth environmental approval decision after Route selection and landholder engagement 1460d slack	Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water	assessment	—	980 published	Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth)
8	State planning approval and environmental assessment decision Assessment as state significant infrastructure, including environmental impact statement, exhibition and submissions. after Route selection and landholder engagement 1440d slack	NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure	assessment	—	1000 published	Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW), Division 5.2
9	Easement acquisition registration Acquire the easements the corridor requires, by agreement or compulsorily. after State planning approval and environmental assessment 900d slack	Transmission network service provider	third party	—	540 estimate	—
10	Construction and commissioning application after Easement acquisition, Commonwealth environmental approval, Contingent project application and revenue determination	Transmission network service provider	applicant	—	900 estimate	—

on the critical path scheduling/queue = delay not caused by the assessment itself

Machine-flagged questions

These are produced automatically from the dependency graph. They are questions for a practitioner, not findings. Each one needs a person who has run this process to say whether the constraint is real.

Steps that may not need to wait

Project specification consultation report and consultation is a notification queued behind work by a different body. Does it consume that body's output, or is it merely sequenced that way by habit?

Proposed changes

Assess once under an accredited state process, decide twice merge ~150d
Where a project needs both state and Commonwealth environmental approval, two documents are prepared, two consultations are run and two assessments are performed on the same impacts. Assessment bilateral agreements already allow one assessment to serve both decisions — they are simply not in place for most of the country.
Test an actionable ISP project once, not twice merge ~300d
A project identified as needed by a whole-of-system cost-benefit process then runs its own three-stage cost-benefit process to establish that it is needed. The actionable ISP framework was built to remove that duplication and removed only part of it.
Let easement acquisition run alongside environmental assessment, not after it parallelise ~540d
Victoria amended its law in 2026 so compulsory easement acquisition for transmission can proceed concurrently with the environment effects process, having identified the sequential requirement as a cause of delay on VNI West and the Western Renewables Link. Modelled against the sequential pathway, one dependency edge is worth about eighteen months.

Sources

National Electricity Rules, rule 5.15A (regulatory investment test for transmission)
AEMO, Integrated System Plan and actionable project framework
AER, published RIT-T and application guidelines, and contingent project application process
Reporting on VNI West completion moving from 2028 to late 2030 on landholder engagement and assessment
Cost benefit analysis guidelines (Version 3, November 2024), Australian Energy Regulator, https://www.aer.gov.au/system/files/2025-05/AER%20-%20Cost%20Benefit%20Analysis%20guidelines%20-%202024%20-%20Version%203.pdf, accessed 2026-11-09
Transgrid, HumeLink regulatory and environmental approvals documents (PSCR 25 June 2019, PADR 10 January 2020, PACR 29 July 2021), https://www.transgrid.com.au/projects-innovation/humelink/regulatory-updates-and-documents/, accessed 2026-11-09
HumeLink (SSI 36656827) Assessment Report, NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, October 2024, https://transgrid.com.au/media/wf4pmmx3/assessment-report.pdf, accessed 2026-11-09

Something wrong here?

This page is wrong in some way -- every page like it is. If you have run this process, the most useful thing you can do is tell us which step took longer than we say and why. Edit data/processes/au-transmission-line.toml and open a pull request, or send us the correction.