The survey for the 1,500 MW Marinus Link project connecting the Australian states of Tasmania and Victoria across the Bass Strait has started. It will help refine the final design and installation methodology for the project. Commonwealth and Victorian environmental referrals for the transmission line were submitted in October 2021. The project would consist of two separate HVDC cables of 750 MW each and would run from the Latrobe Valley in Victoria to northwest Tasmania near Burnie, where large renewable electricity generation and storage capacity are under development. It is estimated to cost AUD3.5bn (US$2.4bn). The first 750 MW phase is expected to be commissioned in 2027-2028 and the second one in 2029-2030; the transmission line should then be fully operational by 2030.
In 2019, the Tasmanian government state-owned electricity provider TasNetworks released the feasibility study and business case assessment for the Marinus Link project. Currently, Tasmania can only export 500 MW as it is limited by the capacity of the existing interconnector Bass Link. The state aims to become the "Battery of the Nation" by boosting its pumped-storage hydropower capacity and by developing 2,000 MW of new wind power capacity over the next 15 years.