Working with communities, industry and First Nations people, NSW is leading a once-in-a-generation upgrade of the NSW electricity network. Our plan, the Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap (Roadmap), supports the delivery of a network built on a mix of renewable technologies, including solar and wind, large-scale energy storage, like pumped hydro and big batteries, and new transmission infrastructure. To facilitate network investment on the scale required, the Electricity Infrastructure Investment Act 2020 (EII Act) provides for the contestable delivery of key network infrastructure projects. This means new network operators can construct and operate infrastructure such as the transmission network for the Central West Orana Renewable Energy Zone which will connect to the existing grid.
About the Network-to-Network Connections Guidelines public consultation
Recent experience has shown opportunities to improve how the current framework supports the planning, procurement and delivery of these major new network connections. Recognising this, the Transmission Planning Review’s final report recommended measures to create a stronger network-to-network connections regime.
The NSW Government accepted these recommendations. In November 2025, it amended the Electricity Supply Act 1995 to allow the Minister for Energy to issue Network-to-Network Connection Guidelines and impose licence conditions in relation to them.
We have now prepared the Draft Network-to-Network Connection Guidelines (PDF, 1.4 MB) and a brief Consultation Paper (PDF, 547 KB) to explain the proposed approach and gather feedback.
We invite interested stakeholders to give feedback on:
- the draft Guidelines
- the proposed licence condition requiring licensed network operators to comply with the Guidelines
- which provisions of the National Electricity Rules should be modified or disallowed to create a streamlined regulatory framework.
Public submissions are invited from Tuesday 17 March to Tuesday 14 April 2026.
To provide feedback on the Draft Network-to-Network Connection Guidelines, please send your submission to [email protected]
When submitting, please include the following in the subject line: 'Your name/Organisation – Draft Network-to-Network Connection Guidelines'.