100 Riverina jobs on offer as multi-million dollar 'Legacy 100' EnergyConnect training program launched

Dubbed 'Legacy 100', the program will train 100 candidates in transmission line construction as part of the $1.8 billion EnergyConnect project being built from Wagga to the South Australian border.

Transgrid executive general manager of major projects Gordon Taylor said its construction partner SecureEnergy is committed to investing in the nation's energy workforce.

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Mr Taylor said this would help address skills and jobs shortages in regional NSW, including the Riverina, and support Australia's great transition to clean energy.

"The first of 1,500 towers are currently being installed on EnergyConnect, with the stringing of 9,000km of conductor cabling to get underway shortly and this requires hundreds of workers."

Mr Taylor said there will be "no transition without transmission" and explained that Legacy 100 will form the backbone of the future workforce in the transmission tower construction industry.

"Workers will use the skills gained on this project to build other future transmission line projects," he said.

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Advertiser this week, project training manager Chris Jones said the project was created to train up more line workers locally due to a global shortfall.

"This program was created to suit EnergyConnect and other projects too," Mr Jones said.

"We will take people with pretty much no experience except for a white card. They will do courses like rigging and dogging - putting a load on and build our towers.

"They will then move on to run our drawstrings and draw lines to pull the wires through."

Mr Jones said there are currently about $30 billion in solar and wind farms between Wagga and Mildura just waiting for the appropriate energy infrastructure to be put in place before they are built.

"They're not going to start until they know they've got a line to connect," he said.

SecureEnergy Project Director Samuel Basanta Lopez said they are now seeking candidates from across the Riverina and other parts of the state to join the program and take their careers to new heights, literally.

The workers will need to have a passion for working at heights and an ability to work away from home - living in an accommodation camp for 21 days at a time.

Mr Basanta Lopez said it is the first time an initiative like this has been launched in Australia.

"We are very proud to be developing the skills and capabilities required for the national energy sector," he said.

The Legacy 100 program will initially be undertaken by Ironbark Training, which will target local and Indigenous candidates across the Riverina, and Thomson Bridge - the only registered training organisation that has this qualification on scope.

Come and try sessions will be held in Wagga for prospective candidates to experience what it is like to work on an elevated platform.

Applicants can lodge an expression of interest in the program by emailing recruitsecureenergy@elecnor.es or find out more information by calling 1800 49 06 66.

EnergyConnect will enable the sharing of electricity between NSW, South Australia and Victoria for the first time.

The project aims to improve energy reliability, integrate renewable energy into the grid, lower power bills for consumers, and help the nation achieve its emissions reduction targets.

The project is expected to create up to 1500 jobs, mainly in regional NSW, and contributing $4 billion in net economic benefits.

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