Australia’s Queensland government has confirmed an AU$2.4 billion (US$1.57 billion) investment in the CopperString transmission project, aiming to extend the National Electricity Market (NEM) to the North West Minerals Province.
CopperString 2032, led by government-owned network operator Powerlink, aims to deliver 840km of new electricity transmission from Mount Isa to Townsville. Approximately 200km of additional transmission line will be required to connect new renewable energy generators to CopperString 2032.
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The heart of the North West Minerals Province is mining and mineral processing. The region is rich in fluorspar, vanadium, rhodium, uranium, copper, limestone, slate, phosphate, manganese, coal, and nickel. It is also home to several significant agricultural developments.
Alongside this, the region is also home to several utility-scale renewable energy and energy storage projects being developed, which, if connected to the NEM, could increase the uptake of renewables in the overall electricity mix. PV Tech Premium recently analysed the generation statistics of utility-scale and rooftop solar in the NEM across May 2025.
The region is home to a 77MW utility-scale solar PV proposal being pursued by APA Group. The proposal is set to be located near the company’s 88MW Dugald River solar PV power plant.
Queensland’s treasurer and minister for energy, David Janetzki, said the government is committed to delivering the major energy project to help connect the mineral-rich region.
“Our investment commitment to the project provides much-needed certainty to regional communities, local councils and investors,” Janetzki said.
“We’re committed to delivering investment and economic growth across the state, including our minerals-rich North West. We’ll continue to work with local governments to ensure CopperString delivers for North Queensland.”
Queensland government seeks ‘reasonable and realistic’ energy projects
This becomes the latest development in Queensland’s energy landscape since David Crisafulli’s right-wing Liberal National Party (LNP) of Queensland took government in late October 2024.
Since taking office, the LNP of Queensland has sought to pursue renewable energy projects that it deems “reasonable and realistic.”
One of the first casualties of this stance was the 5GW/120GWh Pioneer-Burdekin Pumped Hydro Project, which would have become the world’s largest pumped hydro project, as reported by our sister site Energy-Storage.news. It was scrapped because it was “not financially viable, not environmentally appropriate, and the community was never consulted,” according to the government.
Since then, the government has introduced a controversial, rigorous approval process for wind generation and, more recently, utility-scale solar PV developments.
