Tasmania’s transmission and distribution network operator TasNetworks has reported insurance costs on the North West Transmission Developments (NWTD) project came in more than 20% below budget following a three-year engagement with broker Lockton – a result that points to how appointment timing is reshaping risk advisory work on large infrastructure.
Project finance structures are placing new demands on insurance programs for transmission builds – and many brokers are still being appointed too late to meet them. The NWTD project in Tasmania offers a case that illustrates what early appointment produces, and why the gap between early and late is widening.
The NWTD project is a significant upgrade to Tasmania’s electricity transmission network, with Stage 1 construction due to commence in 2026. The works include 129 km of double-circuit transmission lines, 278 new towers, three major substation upgrades, and engagement with more than 270 private landholders – a physical footprint that defines the risk surface the insurance program was required to address. The project forms part of the broader Project Marinus program connecting Tasmania to the national grid.
Where project finance is involved, the insurance program functions as a structural component of the deal itself rather than a separate procurement exercise. Lenders require transmission projects to have a bankable structure – one in which the lender is satisfied that the project company has an acceptable level of risk under the relevant project agreements, with key bankability issues including the allocation of risks to reliable subcontractors or their mitigation through insurance or contingency reserves. Lenders will often have prescriptive requirements for the insurances to be procured by contract parties, including to be named as insured under each of those policies.
The practical implication is that the key classes – contract works, public and products liability, and delay in start-up – must each be structured to satisfy both the project owner’s risk appetite and the lender’s coverage requirements simultaneously. A broker appointed at the procurement stage encounters those requirements as fixed constraints. A broker appointed at the planning stage helps shape how risk is allocated before the financing structure crystallises – which is a materially different position from which to build a program.
In May 2026, the CEFC committed $1.2 billion from the Rewiring the Nation Fund to support NWTD, following its September 2025 commitment of $3.8 billion in low-cost finance for Marinus Link Stage 1. The financing structure on NWTD was not standard commercial debt – it carried government ownership, concessional financing terms, and the coverage expectations that accompany both.
TasNetworks has reported that insurance costs on NWTD came in more than 20% below budget. According to Marsh’s Construction Insurance Market Update 2025, Australia's construction insurance market entered a softer phase in 2025, with premiums falling across most lines. Contract works insurance saw an average decrease of 5%, while design and construction professional indemnity fell by about 10%. Marsh noted that success in optimising terms depends on the quality of submissions, with well-structured data and demonstrable risk management around site safety, project timelines, and contractual allocation serving as key differentiators.
Market softening accounts for some of the saving – but only some. Soft markets increase the spread between strong and weak submissions: when insurers are competing for business, preparation compounds rather than becoming less relevant. A broker with three years of accumulated knowledge of the risk profile, stakeholder structure, and contractual framework produces a materially stronger submission than one appointed six months before placement.
Lockton worked as risk and insurance advisor to TasNetworks’ NWTD project team for more than three years, helping develop and implement a risk finance strategy commensurate with the scale, complexity, and risk profile of the project. Brett Spinks, leader commercial, NWTD at TasNetworks, confirmed the outcome: “Their work delivered insurance costs more than 20% below budget, while ensuring the program remained appropriately protected.”
AEMO's 2024 Integrated System Plan calls for approximately 10,000 km of new transmission projects by 2050, representing $16 billion in identified investment – and according to Infrastructure Australia’s 2025 Infrastructure Market Capacity Report, energy transmission projects are already leading the national infrastructure pipeline’s growth, with utilities investment projected to more than double to $36 billion over the next five years.
The insurance market conditions across that pipeline are not uniform. The construction insurance market in Australia remains concentrated among a small group of major carriers, with Lloyd’s syndicates stepping in for large or highly complex projects. For subsea components – directly relevant to programs like Marinus Link – the picture is tighter still: capacity remains restricted for subsea construction, creating a micro-hard market, and if incorrectly priced, construction placements can take months to complete, leaving clients with significant uncertainty on coverage and cost.
Together, these two market structure points define the underwriting challenge: standard contract works appetite and capacity assumptions do not translate directly to transmission construction, and they translate even less directly to its subsea components. Underwriters who develop technical familiarity with these distinctions early will be better positioned as the pipeline accelerates.
For brokers, the business development implication is equally direct: on project-financed infrastructure builds, a late appointment is a structural disadvantage. The submission quality argument, the risk allocation input, and the lender relationship work all require lead time that a procurement-stage appointment does not provide.
Lockton’s work on NWTD is part of a wider engagement with the Project Marinus program. The firm also advised Marinus Link Pty Ltd – the jointly government-owned project company delivering the Marinus Link interconnector – through its financial close in September 2025. As insurance adviser and broker for the wider Marinus Link project, Lockton provided guidance on insurable and non-insurable risks, identifying the parties best placed to assume and/or insure those risks while meeting project finance requirements. Marinus Link’s 1,500 MW capacity is approximately three times that of the existing Basslink interconnector, with Stage 1 construction expected to begin in 2026 and be completed by 2030.
That dual role – across both the transmission network upgrade and the interconnector program it supports – reflects the same logic the article has traced. Early engagement across a program, rather than project-by-project mandates, is where the analytical and commercial depth accumulates. When a broker gets appointed is becoming as consequential as which broker gets appointed – and on the pipeline of financed transmission builds ahead, the window for early appointment is already open.
