Multi-Criteria Assessment process and outcomes

A Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) is a structured process that we use to compare key factors and criteria in a controlled and transparent way that can inform decision-making.

This MCA focused on Corridor Selection

We used an MCA process to bring key stakeholders together to consider and compare the suitability of Corridor Options for the Northern Transmission Project (NTx). This MCA considered a range of factors for each Corridor Option, including:

how practical it is
how much it costs
its potential impacts on land, environment, people and culture
how well it fits with the electricity network requirements.

As each option was assessed against key criteria, this MCA helped us identify a Preferred Corridor for more detailed investigation and continued community engagement.

Why we used an MCA

NTx is a complex project. Not all benefits and impacts can be measured in numbers, and different groups value things in different ways. This MCA was a useful process because it was:

balanced – it looked at and compared costs, environment, community and technical issues
transparent – everyone was able to see how options were compared
inclusive – it brought community and stakeholder voices into the process
flexible – it evaluated both measurable data (like cost) and less tangible factors (like visual impact or cultural values)

Using an MCA collaborative process made sure decisions were clear and open, balancing community priorities with project requirements.

How we ran this MCA

We held six MCA workshops, two each in Port Augusta, Burra and Gawler, during May and June 2025.

Participants, including council members, government representatives, technical experts and community members, were guided through a facilitated process to:

agree on the criteria to assess each Corridor Option
decide how important (or ‘weighted’) each criterion should be
score the Corridor Options against the agreed criteria.

Criteria used to assess Corridor Options

Five key criteria were used to compare the NTx Corridor Options:

Environment and land

ecology, habitat, water, climate and land use impacts

Social sustainability

Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal heritage, tourism, recreation, health, business and visual impacts

Technical strength

engineering, operations and maintenance

Strategic alignment

how well it supports renewable generation, demand and reliability

Cost

Participants weighted these criteria to better reflect local priorities and perspectives.

Why weighting matters

Not all factors are equally important. Creating a weighting makes sure the most important issues, like community impacts or environment, have the right influence on the final result.

We also tested ‘what if’ sensitivity scenarios with different weightings to check the results were robust.

Process and findings

This MCA was one of a number of inputs we used to decide which Corridor Options to continue investigating and which ones would be considered closed to further study. Closed Corridors may be revisited in the future, if our investigations determine that the Preferred Corridor is unsuitable.

A number of resources are available to explain this MCA process and outcomes:

Corridor selection fact sheet

Details this MCA process, including explaining how the initial Corridor Options were identified, and summarises the outcomes for NTx North and NTx South.

MCA Outcomes for the North Fact Sheet

Provides more details on the MCA findings and outcome for the section north of Bundey (near Robertstown) through to Whyalla.

MCA Outcomes for the South Fact Sheet

Provides more details on the MCA findings and outcome for the section south of Bundey (near Robertstown) through to Greater Adelaide.

MCA Techical Report

The full MCA technical report provides all the technical findings from this MCA process and includes:

how Corridor Options were assessed and compared

the methodology used, including stakeholder feedback, data inputs and evaluation criteria

the scoring and analysis process

how results from different regions were combined to rank Corridor Options.

Presentation introducing this MCA process at the workshops

This introductory presentation was shared with workshop participants and includes a copy of the agendas for each workshop.

Data used to guide MCA discussions

The following maps were shared with MCA workshop participants as a common reference point when discussing how each Corridor Option compared with the agreed criteria.

Far North and Upper Spencer Gulf

Mid North

Greater Adelaide