The $5.5 billion Central West-Orana Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) Transmission project the first competitively sourced REZ transmission project in Australia. The project will deliver 90 kilometres of 500-kilovolt (kV) and 150 kilometres of 330-kV overhead transmission lines, multiple energy hubs and supporting infrastructure, supporting an initial 4.5 gigawatts of network capacity. The ACEREZ consortium, comprising ACCIONA, Cobra, and Endeavour Energy, was selected to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the project for a 30-year term through a Regulated Concession Model – combining features of a Public Private Partnership and a regulated asset model. The project reached formal contract award and financial close in April 2025.
The Judging Panel commended the advisors on their advice to ACEREZ and EnergyCo on financing the project, noting it was the first-of-its-kind in Australia and provided a blueprint replicable for future REZ network developments. The Panel recognised the scale and complexity of the transaction, and the innovative model developed to finance the project.