# Marinus Link Granted Australia’s First Offshore Transmission Licence for 1,500 MW Bass Strait HVDC Interconnector

> In a milestone Commonwealth regulatory decision, Marinus Link has secured Australia’s first-ever Transmission and Infrastructure Licence under the Offshore Electricity Infrastructure Act 2021, opening the path for full subsea cable laying and converter station construction across the Bass Strait.

- **Publish Date:** 2026-09-26
- **Category:** transmission-substations
- **Reading Time:** 5 min
- **Original Source Citation:** [Marinus Link Pty Ltd & DCCEEW Australia](https://www.marinuslink.com.au/news/offshore-transmission-infrastructure-licence-granted-september-2026)
- **Tags:** Marinus Link, HVDC, Offshore Transmission, Australia, Subsea Cable, Converter Transformer, Bass Strait
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## Unlocking 1,500 MW of Bidirectional Renewable Exchange

The licence valid through 2090 covers the installation, operation, and maintenance of the 345 km interconnector (comprising 255 km of subsea HVDC cable and 90 km of underground terrestrial cables) linking Heybridge in northwest Tasmania to the Latrobe Valley in Victoria.

Stage 1 delivers 750 MW of high-voltage direct current transfer capacity by late 2030, supported by dual ±320 kV Voltage Source Converter (VSC) stations and heavy-duty converter transformers engineered to withstand extreme marine thermal cycling and seismic loading.

## Firming Australia’s National Electricity Market (NEM)

The link integrates Tasmania’s massive pumped hydro storage assets—the “Battery of the Nation”—with the mainland Australian grid, providing fast-frequency response, synthetic inertia, and black-start capabilities to replace retiring coal generation in Victoria.

Procurement for the converter transformers and undersea cable armor packages has progressed into binding supplier manufacturing contracts, ensuring delivery aligns with AEMO’s 2026 Integrated System Plan priority milestones.

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