Community Partnership Program Recipients announced

Published on 27 February 2024

Supporting the next generation: Marinus Link & Burnie City Council grants announced

A school-based initiative encouraging students to take up local jobs and a Burnie-based Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) challenge have been announced as the two successful recipients of the Burnie City Council & Marinus Link Community Partnership Program (Program).

Burnie High School and GreenSTEM will each receive $60,000 each over three years to deliver their student-focussed programs within the Burnie region.

Image: Representatives from GreenSTEM and Burnie High School at the announcement of the successful recipients on 23 February 2024, at Burnie High School. Present at the announcement were (left to right): GreenSTEM Education's Brendan Smith, Daniel Edwards & Dan Langford; Burnie City Council Mayor Teeny Brumby; Burnie High students Georgie Walker, Daniella Bryan & Anina Eastwood; Burnie High School Deputy Principal James Thompson and Cr Chris Lynch from Burnie City Council.

A mathematician at heart, Marinus Link CEO, Caroline Wykamp couldn’t be happier than to see two youth focused projects funded as a result of the partnership with Burnie City Council.

“We had such an overwhelming response to the program and would like to thank all applicants and importantly, Burnie City Council, for their continued support of Marinus Link” Ms Wykamp said.

“I am so excited for the region, the renewable energy transition and for our young people.

“Who knows, these programs may just be the spark for our future tradespeople, engineers or scientists.”

Burnie High School’s ‘Burnie Aware’ program aims to bridge the gap between students finishing high school and local industry, exposing students to the career opportunities available within the Burnie region.

Through teamwork and science, GreenSTEM’s ‘Greenpower Tasmania’ program will inspire students to explore fascinating and limitless STEM focussed careers.

Burnie City Council Mayor Teeny Brumby said the Program recipients are welcome partners in the Council’s goal of ‘Making a Better Burnie’ over the next 20 years.

“The Burnie City Council is focused on an overarching plan called ‘Making a Better Burnie 2044’, which guides everything we do at the local government level,” Mayor Brumby said.

“The ‘Burnie Aware’ program will provide connection between local employers and graduating Burnie High students, helping keep our wonderful Burnie youth in our city by connecting them to local jobs and careers.

“And GreenSTEM’s ‘Greenpower Tasmania’ program is giving Burnie students exposure to useful skills for STEM-focussed careers. The renewable energy sector is set to be a major employer in Burnie in the not-too-distant future, so I’m a big fan of initiatives like GreenSTEM.”

About the Program

Marinus Link has committed $40,000 a year over 10 years to the Burnie City Council (BCC) to deliver a community grants program in the Burnie municipality.  

Working together, Marinus Link and the Burnie City Council have developed the Marinus Link and Burnie City Council Community Partnership Program (the Program).

The Program was developed to align with Marinus Link’s Sustainability Framework priorities and potential growth areas for the Burnie community, identified by the Burnie City Council.  

Through the Program, two successful recipients will receive $20,000 each over three years ($60,000 total per successful recipient).

Successful recipients will deliver an initiative that promotes:

The first Program application round commenced in September 2023 and closed in November 2023. Applicants were assessed in December 2023 and successful recipients informed in late January 2024.

About the successful recipients:

Business:GreenSTEM

Program:Greenpower Tasmania: Full STEAM Ahead to a Better Burnie

About: Greenpower Tasmania is a school-based program where teams of High School students design, build and race an electrical vehicle. These vehicles are ‘F24 kits’.

The CSIRO estimates that over 90% of all jobs will require STEM skills within the next 5 years. Greenpower Tasmania addresses many of these issues by providing a Burnie-based STEM challenge that forges strong connections between education and industry through an engaging and relevant program, encompassing all areas of STEM and empowering students to become active, engaged and independent drivers of their own learning.

Image: Burnie City Council Mayor Teeny Brumby tests out the GreenSTEM electric powered vehicle that students, who are participating in the program, can build the skin for the vehicle and learn about STEM skills in the process.

Successful recipient two:

Business: Burnie High School

Program: Burnie Aware

About: Burnie Aware aims to create awareness of the jobs and industries that are available to students leaving high school within the Burnie Region. This program aims to encourage students entering the workforce to seize the opportunities available in the local region, avoiding moving to larger city centres. The program will run a series of events, workshops and site tours with participating local businesses, providing a direct line for students to meet prospective employers.

About Marinus Link

Marinus Link is an underground and undersea electricity and data cable that will further connect Tasmania and Victoria.

It will allow Tasmania to combine the benefits of solar, wind and hydro, giving Tasmanians the lowest possible power prices and giving new industries the energy confidence to establish in Tasmania.

For Australians, Marinus Link will unlock Tasmania’s hydropower resources, providing access massive amounts of renewable storage capacity, 30,000x the size of Victoria’s Big Battery.

The cable will run 255km undersea from North West Tasmania to Waratah Bay in Victoria, then a further 90km underground to the Latrobe Valley. Converter stations at each end will convert the electricity from direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC), for use in the states’ grids.

At full capacity, Marinus Link will deliver 1500-megawatts (MW) of electricity, equal to the power supply for 1.5 million Australian homes.