Transgrid offers $2 million in engineering scholarships to power up Riverina transmission mega projects

Transgrid has announced an engineering scholarship fund to allocate $2 million to support the education of 100 engineering students at the CSU Bathurst campus.

Transgird chief executive Brett Redman said Transgrid would be working with the university to develop regional career pathways for scholarship recipients through engineering cadet placements with Transgrid and other organisations across regional NSW, including the Murray and Riverina.

Transgrid is currently planning three multi-billion dollar power transmission lines projects in the Riverina with Project EnergyConnect running from Wagga to South Australia and HumeLink running from the Snowy Hydro Scheme to Wagga.

The proposed VNI West power line would run from the planned Project EnergyConnect substation near Jerilderie to Ballarat in western Victoria.

From 2023 to 2029, the Transgrid will award 100 scholarships worth $20,000 each to students commencing either the Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) (Honours) or Bachelor of Technology (Civil) / Master of Engineering (Civil) programs at CSU.

"Cadetships give students an opportunity to gain real world skills and experience while making an important contribution to projects and communities in regional NSW," Mr Redman said.

"We are pleased to be partnering with the university to help fill a critical skills gap."

Federal Riverina MP Michael McCormack said the scholarships would provide a fantastic opportunity for regional students.

"This $2 million initiative will help regional people study for a highly skilled course which may have otherwise been out of reach," Mr McCormack said.

"It will potentially lead to more local people studying engineering regionally and undertaking their work placements in the regions, which will hopefully lead them to become the future for building the infrastructure of regional Australia."

Applications for the 2023 scholarship are open until November 25, 2022. For more information, go to www.csu.edu.au/transgrid-scholarship.

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