Thank you. Good morning, and thank you for joining us today for our 2021 half-year results call. As you just heard, I'm joined by our CFO, Gerard Dover, who'll touch on the key points in the financial results in a minute. Also, as per usual, we will be referring to adjusted or underlying balances, which we present to simplify some of the tax transition complexity, and to eliminate some of the one-off or provision movement noise that can often confuse the BAU results and variances. Right. Let's move across to slide two, and let's recap on the announcement from yesterday, which does have an impact on what we say today and how it affects some of our forward-looking statements. On 15th July, we first announced we had received and rejected a couple of approaches from a consortium of KKR and Ontario Teachers'. The first conditional and non-binding proposal we received was at AUD 2.70, which was subsequently increased to AUD 2.80. Both amounts were to be adjusted by our interim distribution of AUD 0.0625, which we had already announced by then. Effectively, the proposals were for AUD 2.6375, and subsequently AUD 2.7375. Whilst not accepting the increased proposal, we elected to engage and provide limited additional information and a management presentation on the business and its prospects, subject to the consortium signing a confidentiality agreement, which obviously they did. The management presentation was provided on July 16, the day after my presentation to the Australian Shareholders' Association Investor Forum on the 15th. On July 28, we announced that the consortium had increased their offer to AUD 2.95 or AUD 2.8875 net as the interim distribution. On that basis, we agreed to open up the books for due diligence. Subsequently on 10th August, we announced that the Canadian PSP Investments had joined KKR and Teachers' in the consortium. All of these discussions were on a non-exclusive basis. At the end of last week, the consortium completed their due diligence and reconfirmed their proposal at a total consideration of AUD 2.95 per stapled security. Over the weekend, there were further discussions and we agreed to a special distribution to flush out the expected level of franking credits at 31 December 2021. We forecast approximately AUD 90 million worth of franking credits or roughly AUD 0.05. That translates to requiring a cash distribution of approximately AUD 0.12, which would be adjusted against the offer price. We also agreed a ticking fee or additional consideration, such that if the transaction is not implemented by 31 December and slips into 2022, security holders will be compensated. If the date slips to 15th February 2022, security holders will receive an extra AUD 0.01 per security and pro rata for every day thereafter up to implementation at a rate which is approximately AUD 0.01 per month. The value being based on an approximate AUD 0.12 distribution that security holders would normally have received or normally have expected to have received for 2022. In summary, the overall consideration based on a 31 December 2021 value date is cash consideration of approximately AUD 2.7675 per security, a franked special distribution of approximately AUD 0.12, the exact quantum to be determined closer to the date, the interim distribution of AUD 0.0625 for those who are on the register on the record date of 8 July, and for those security holders who are able to utilize the benefit of franking credits, there is a total of approximately an additional AUD 0.065 of extra value, AUD 0.015 from the interim and approximately AUD 0.05 from the special. Subsequent to the agreement on all of these matters, we finalized and signed the scheme implementation deed or SID yesterday, which includes a unanimous recommendation from the directors to support the offer. The SID runs to an end date of 24th May 2022, hence the importance of the agreement around the additional consideration should implementation slip into 2022 past 15th Feb. The SID includes no shop, no talk clauses, as is customary, these are subject to fiduciary outs and allow Spark directors to engage if a superior proposal is received. At this point, there have not been any discussions on the conduct and operation of the business going forward between Spark and the consortium, except for the limitations set out in regulated events in the SID. Having said that, the consortium are all long-term reputable and credible owners in essential and critical infrastructure elsewhere in the world, and have consistently said that they highly value assets and businesses that are critical to the energy transition and decarbonization efforts. From here, the next steps are FIRB clearance, a report from the independent expert, and preparation of a scheme booklet to enable court and security holder approvals to proceed. The timetable targets scheme meetings and final implementation before year-end. The time required to obtain FIRB approvals is difficult to predict. Obviously, the agreed scheme, which is still uncertain, affects what we can say about our future intentions, for example, around distributions, growth strategy in renewables and so on. What we do know is that we have the consortium's full support in supporting our existing businesses, TransGrid, Victoria Power Networks, and SA Power Networks, in their plans to run their businesses reliably, efficiently, and safely, and to support their exciting growth plans, whether that be for EnergyConnect, HumeLink, or whatever in the transmission space, or in augmenting our distribution networks to minimize issues with the increasing penetration and influence of rooftop solar and batteries. In relation to distributions, whilst we remain confident of achieving our full year guidance and longer-term growth targets, they may be redundant for our existing security holders. As I've said, part of a scheme consideration is an intention to distribute a fully franked special distribution of approximately AUD 0.12 at implementation date. However, implementation slip into 2022, it is expected that the current planned final distribution of AUD 0.0625 as per guidance would be paid with appropriate franking. Then the special distribution would conversely be reduced to approximately AUD 0.0575, such that the overall consideration remains at AUD 2.95 per security, subject to any further additional consideration accruing. Okay. With that said, let's move on into the results for the half year. Slide three, Spark at a glance. Total proportional RCAB, or regulated and contracted asset base, RCAB, at 30 June was AUD 6.9 billion, which has grown significantly over the last six and 12 months and will continue to do so. You can see a development pipeline of approximately 2.2 GW, which only includes the potential first stage of the Dinawan Energy Hub. Slide four. In our opinion, this is what has attracted the current bid for the company. The push towards increased electrification, the critical role that our businesses will play in the future decarbonization of the economy, and the scarcity value of our assets. Slide five. Our investment thesis on one slide. I'll just point you to one point. On the right-hand side, you will see reference to corporate restructure. In the last 12-18 months, we have moved to tax-paying, and we began distributing franking credits for the first time in March this year. At the ASA Investor Forum, I mentioned that we were reviewing our corporate structure, which has a trust holdco and multiple tax consolidated groups, and we were investigating moving to a more traditional company structure under one tax consolidated group, which has the potential to improve the utilization of tax deductions to unlock incremental cash flow at the Spark corporate level. Whilst we had commenced this exercise and opened discussions with the ATO, these discussions will need to be suspended while the scheme is on foot. Okay, slide six, the financial highlights for the period. On a look-through basis, underlying net operating cash flow before tax was AUD 201 million, 6.6% higher than the prior period. On a proportionate basis, the investment businesses invested AUD 193 million in growth assets during the half year, an increase of 40.6% on the prior, including AUD 129 million in distribution assets and AUD 63 million in transmission assets. They're proportional numbers. This continued investment in our networks delivered growth in RAB of 4.3% to AUD 6.6 billion Spark share again. Our spend in TransGrid's contracted connection assets saw growth in CAB of 8.6% to AUD 299 million our share. Look-through FFO to net debt was 11.7% for the period, still at a very healthy level, continuing to demonstrate balance sheet capacity at the asset and corporate level to support continued RCAB growth while maintaining attractive cash distributions to security holders. On 1 July 2021, we announced an interim distribution of AUD 0.0625 with expected franking credits of approximately AUD 0.015. The interim distribution had a record date of 8th of July and is scheduled to be paid on 15 September. If the transaction falls over or runs beyond 31 December, as I said, we will maintain our guides of AUD 0.125 for the full year, noting that the record date for the final is scheduled to be 31 December. Moving to slide seven. The performance summary combines the financial outcomes from the investment businesses and is presented on a proportional interest basis. We'll go into the performance of each of the individual businesses shortly. In aggregate, total revenues were down 4.7% or AUD 28 million to AUD 558 million for the half, with operating costs were up by 4.5% or AUD 7 million to AUD 165 million. The revenue reductions in SA Power Networks and Victoria Power Networks were anticipated and reflected. Both businesses have now transitioned into their new regulatory determinations with lower regulatory revenues from 1 July 2020 and 1 July 2021, respectively. Noting that VPN operated under a transition period from 1 January 2021 with the lower regulated rate of return. The unregulated businesses at both VPN, Beon and SAPN, Enerven, continued to perform well in 2021, with proportional EBITDA contributions of AUD 5.6 million and AUD 6.8 million from Beon and Enerven, respectively. The reduction in contribution at Enerven is largely due to the SA Water zero emission solar initiative nearing completion and lower ElectraNet, which I'm sure they'll replace going forward. Overall, a 7.9% decrease in EBITDA, which totaled AUD 405.5 million for the half. Net external finance costs were down on the prior period by 6.5%, resulting in earnings before tax and depreciation of AUD 318 million, down AUD 28.6 million on the prior period. Okay, slide eight. In the interest of time, I'll pass over our ESG performance, except to say that our ESG credentials have been recognized strongly through the proposed offer. Having said that, I'll hand over to Gerard to go through the financial results in more detail. Thanks, Rick. I'll start with the standalone cash flow on slide 10 and add some color to some of the key line items running down the page. Distributions received from VPN and SAPN decreased AUD 9.8 million and AUD 12.5 million respectively, and reflect lower regulatory returns set by the AER for both businesses, having both commenced new regulatory periods. Distributions received from TransGrid were at AUD 6.8 million, down AUD 4.8 million from the prior period. The decrease was primarily due to TransGrid retaining a higher proportion of its increased operational cash flow to partially fund investment in both its regulated and contracted asset bases. Regulated CapEx increased by almost 150% on the prior period with the commencement of PEC and the continued progression of other major projects such as Powering Sydney's Future and QNI, which are both progressing well. Notwithstanding the outage in January, Bomen Solar Farm has performed well in the first half of 2021, contributing net operating cash flow of AUD 5.3 million. The step-up in underlying tax paid is as expected. AUD 27.4 million is the aggregated 2020 tax liability relating to our investments in VPN and SAPN. By contrast, the prior period, AUD 19 million, is the 2019 tax liability for the tax consolidated group holding the SAPN investment only. Moving to slide 11, we have presented the cash flow on a look-through or proportional interest basis. We've broken cash flows out for each of our investment businesses and at the Spark level so that it is easier to see the individual contributions to total cash from operations and the investments in growth. On a look-through basis, underlying net operating cash flow before tax was AUD 201.2 million, up 6.6% or AUD 12.4 million on the prior period. Noting that for the after-tax line, and as we did for the full year, we've excluded tax paid by VPN and SAPN, as the benefit of these ranking credits will be distributed to Spark in future periods. On the investing cash flows, look-through growth CapEx at the investment businesses was AUD 192.5 million, representing a 40.6% period-on-period increase, and contributing to the 4.5% period-on-period increase in asset base. Now to the review of our investment businesses' financial results, starting with Victoria Power Networks on slides 13 and 14. As usual, we are reporting performances of these businesses on a 100% basis. In October 2020, the AER released the final decision to extend CitiPower and Powercor's electricity distribution determinations for the 2016-2020 regulatory period for an additional six months, from 31 December 2020, applying the new lower rate of return instrument with a transitional six-month period to the 30th of June 2021. VPN performed well during the period, with total revenue of AUD 524.5 million, excluding Beon, 10.3% lower than the prior period, largely due to reduced regulatory revenue of AUD 434.3 million, which was down 12.2%. To put this in perspective, and as noted at the bottom of the slide, the regulated return reduced from 5.8%-4.6%, which is a 21% reduction. Regulated revenues were further impacted by the exclusion of incentive scheme revenue from the transitional period. EBITDA was AUD 389.4 million, 10.8% down on the prior period due to lower revenue and partially offset by the higher Beon margin and lower operating costs. Net capital expenditure was AUD 323.4 million, an increase of 3.8%, due largely to the continuation of the REFCL program, IT infrastructure spend relating to AEMO's five-minute settlement rule change, and field services expenditure. As a result, VPN's RAB grew to AUD 6.858 billion at 30 June 2021, 5.2% higher than at 30 June 2020. Moving on a couple of slides to slide 15, I wanted to highlight VPN's historical achievements in terms of outperformance. Regulated networks operate under an incentive-based system, such that if they are able to make efficiencies and reduce costs below their allowances provided by the regulator, they can keep those savings for a period of time, rewarding security holders and before passing on those lower network costs to consumers. This is a key objective for all of our businesses. Noting that Power refers to Powercor Network and CP to CitiPower. You can see on slide 14 that over the last five years, operating outperformance was 11%, CapEx outperformance was 17.2%, STPIS averaged AUD 25 million, and the F-factor averaged over AUD 2.6 million. Going forward, we'd expect VPN to continue to outperform the regulatory settings. Turning now to SA Power Networks. Slide 16 and 17. SAPN's final determination for the period from 1st of July 2020 to 30th June 2025 was issued by the AER in June 2020 and was broadly in line with the expectations. Although set at a time when risk-free rates were at an all-time low, reflecting the first wave of COVID uncertainty and RBA intervention in bond markets. Nevertheless, the reg reset does provide revenue certainty through 2025. SAPN revenue of AUD 467.7 million, excluding Enerven, represents a reduction of only 1.6% on the prior period. Regulated revenue was AUD 410.4 million, down 4.6% on the prior period, with all other revenue streams, excluding Enerven, being higher than the prior period, primarily driven by increases to public lighting, asset relocation, and metering works. EBITDA was AUD 329.3 million, AUD 8.9 million lower than the prior period due to lower revenue, higher operating costs, mainly as a result of the increased non-regulated works, and a lower Enerven margin. Again, to put this result in perspective, and as noted at the bottom of the slide, the regulated return reduced from 6.17% to 4.75%, which is a 23% reduction. Net capital expenditure was AUD 161.3 million, or 8.9% lower than last period due to lower network connection, augmentation, and maintenance CapEx in line with the new regulatory determination. SAPN's RAB increased to AUD 4.41 billion at 30th June 2021, 0.9% higher than at 30th of June 2020. In a similar approach as I have just run through for VPN, slide 18 covers SAPN's historical outperformance under the regulatory regimes incentive schemes over the last five years. Operating outperformance was 4.4%, CapEx outperformance was 15.8%, STPIS averaged AUD 29 million. Again, we'd expect SAPN to continue to outperform. Turning to TransGrid on slides 19, 20, and 21. TransGrid's total revenue for the period was AUD 478.2 million, an increase of 8.5% on the prior period. This was driven by both higher regulated revenue of AUD 406.8 million, up 6.6%, and continued growth in connections revenue. Connections revenue has continued to increase period on period, with unregulated revenue increasing by 13% to AUD 71.2 million. Regulated operating expenses increased by only AUD 0.8 million, or 1%, to AUD 82.1 million. This is impacted by bush fire remediation costs of AUD 9.3 million, which were incurred at the beginning of 2020, with AUD 2.4 million in the equivalent cost in 2021. These costs are, of course, the result of damage sustained during devastating bushfires at the end of 2019. Excluding these amounts, regulated operating expenses actually increased 10.7%, reflecting additional costs during the upcoming revenue reset process, as well as additional maintenance costs. Unregulated operating expense and other costs were AUD 41.4 million. This is an increase of AUD 8.6 million, mainly due to increased infrastructure connections and additional project development costs to support the acceleration of TransGrid's expanding connections pipeline. Overall, EBITDA was AUD 354.7 million, which was 8.6% higher than the prior period. Capital expenditure was AUD 564.1 million, an increase of AUD 253.8 million on the prior period. Regulated CapEx increased by AUD 302.1 million to AUD 506.7 million, mainly due to investment in major augmentation projects, including the commencement of PEC, Powering Sydney's Future, QNI minor upgrade, and VNI upgrade projects. Contracted capital expenditure in the half year 2021 of AUD 57.4 million related to a number of renewable generator connections, as well as additional telecommunications capital expenditure. The reduction in contracted CapEx period on period is a relative pause in activity, with a very healthy pipeline of new connections still proceeding through the connection approval process. Continued investment in the regulated network is adding to TransGrid's RAB, generating TUOS revenue in future periods, while unregulated contracted capital expenditure invested by Lumea will continue to drive contracted revenues. The contracted revenue will increase progressively as each project is completed and then escalate with inflation over their 25-30 year contract periods. Our RAB grew to AUD 8.049 billion at 30 June 2021, which is 10% higher than at 30 June 2020. Slide 22 emphasizes the comments I've just made about the continuing significant growth over time of TransGrid's infrastructure connections portfolio, with revenue increasing from AUD 31.6 million in 2017 to AUD 80.9 million in 2020, and with 2021 expected to be another strong year. Moving to slide 23 for Bomen Solar Farm. As referenced at the time of the 2020 full-year result, Bomen Solar Farm experienced a one-off three-week outage in January 2021 due to a substation fault. Following rectification, the plant has performed well in the first half of 2021, generating total revenue of AUD 6.3 million, underpinned by PPA agreements with Westpac and Flow Power, and an EBITDA result of AUD 4.7 million. Bomen Solar Farm generated 84 GWh of renewable energy during the period. That concludes the financial review of the operations. I'll now hand back to Rick. Thanks, Gerard. I'm actually going to pass over slides 25 and 26, move to slide 27. On slide 27, the regulatory reviews. We list out some of the more important regulatory reviews going on. The rate of return instrument, the RORI, that establishes the regulated rate of return, is reviewed every four years. The AER has commenced the review for the 2022 RORI, which will be in place for December 2022, therefore impact TransGrid's new regulatory period, which will commence in July 2023. We are actively participating in this review. The AER finalized its review of the regulatory treatment of inflation in December 2020. The new approach became effective for VPN from 1 July 2021, resulted in a five-year forecast of 2%, 2.0%, versus the 2.27% adopted for SAPN 12 months prior. I also note that the AEMC has commenced a transmission planning review process, which we would hope will reexamine the issue of financability for actionable ISP projects. Okay, moving to slide 29. Our strategic vision. You all have seen this slide numerous times before. Obviously, it depicts our three-part strategy. Perhaps I'll pass over this, and we can revisit at the full year. Gerard, do you want to just take us through our growth opportunities? Thanks. Thanks, Rick. Slide 30 identifies the investment opportunities as the rate Spark in our businesses emanating from the energy transition. I'm not going to go through the whole slide, but we'll call out the opportunities for VPN and SAPN, which are sometimes overlooked. We have seen the increased penetration of rooftop solar to the highest levels in the world, creating new challenges for the distribution networks over recent years. Batteries, smart meters, and other demand-side initiatives will be needed to help manage this issue, in which the distribution network companies are best placed to manage efficiently and effectively for the system overall. The information on slide 31 is largely sourced from AEMO's Integrated System Plan. It outlines the key priority projects to strengthen the backbone of the grid to enable more connection of renewables and greater interconnectivity across the NEM. The left-hand table identifies the key New South Wales projects and opportunities for TransGrid. In total, the committed and actionable projects total AUD 8.5 billion of investment opportunity this decade in New South Wales. As it currently stands, we expect TransGrid to play a significant role in each of these projects. Slide 32 provides some detail on the committed projects underway. Most notably, Project EnergyConnect was approved in the period. PEC is a 900 km high-voltage electricity transmission line connecting Wagga Wagga in New South Wales to Robertstown in South Australia, with a short spur line into northwest Victoria. It is a significant AUD 2 billion project to be delivered by TransGrid in New South Wales. On completion, it is expected to deliver net savings to consumers of over AUD 100 per household in New South Wales and is forecast to unlock around AUD 3 billion of additional renewable generation investment. Slide 33 is a summary of a more recent project, HumeLink. TransGrid has published the PACR, or Project Assessment Conclusion Report. This is another hugely important project in the context of delivering AEMO's ISP. HumeLink is a 500 kV transmission line which will carry electricity from new generation sources, including the expanded Snowy Hydro scheme. The PACR for HumeLink was published on the 29th of July 2021, with a contingent project assessment submission expected in the first quarter of 2022. The forecast CapEx for the preferred option is AUD 3.3 billion, including environmental offset costs of AUD 935 million, and from which customers are expected to derive net benefits of AUD 491 million. Moving to slide 34, the energy transition is creating opportunities elsewhere in the supply chain, with innovation and new technologies supporting increased customer engagement in their electricity usage. Slide 34 highlights our network businesses' unregulated subsidiaries. Beon and Enerven, owned by VPN and SAPN respectively, are highly regarded construction businesses in their own right. Their services are being sought to deliver renewable projects across the country with plenty of opportunity to continue the growth they have delivered over the last five years. They are also getting significantly involved in numerous battery and standalone power system trials within their networks as they expand their distribution system operator services. Lumea, owned by TransGrid, builds, owns, and operates critical connection infrastructure for large-scale renewable projects, including for Snowy 2.0, and has seen a threefold increase in its contracted asset base over the last four years. Slide 35 highlights a further element of Lumea's direction, as well as a healthy connections pipeline. They are also currently pursuing two large-scale battery projects. The Deer Park Energy Hub in Victoria is the key source of electricity supply to metropolitan Melbourne and will now include Australia's first privately funded large-scale battery contracted with a variety of market participants. Slide 36 provides some updates on our renewables business. A reminder that Bomen Solar Farm, our first renewables project located near Wagga Wagga in New South Wales, was delivered on time and under budget and has been fully operational since late June last year. While Bomen is a step out from our traditional regulated network investments, a large proportion of the revenues are supported through long-term contracts, therefore providing certainty of revenues. Bomen Solar Farm is expected to deliver 220 GWh of clean energy each year, which translates to an effective reduction of over 178,000 tons of greenhouse gases and produces enough electricity to power the equivalent of 36,000 homes. Building on the success of Bomen Solar Farm, we have formed the Spark Renewables brand, and consistent with our strategic vision, we are actively and selectively exploring opportunities in wind, solar, storage, and green hydrogen, including Dinawan Energy Hub and across the NEM to complement our ongoing investment in energy networks. While we are cautious and disciplined in the assessment of opportunities, we have established an exciting pipeline of around 2.2 GW of renewable options, which we are continuing to develop and evaluate. Slide 38 is an update to a slide that we showed as part of the 2020 full-year results. A few moments ago, I talked to the slides showing the key components of growth from TransGrid pipeline and the renewables pipeline. The graphs on slide 38 bring these components of growth into the context of the Spark portfolio and the sources of capital. Some of the funding is met at the asset level, where the investment businesses will retain some of their operating cash flow and utilize their balance sheet capacity to fund capital expenditure. For the additional equity required for TransGrid major projects and for funding renewables, we will reinstate the DRP and will utilize corporate-level debt. These sources leave operating cash flow to continue to fund distributions going forward. As depicted on the top right-hand of slide 38, this growth pipeline results in a compound annual growth rate, or CAGR, of the asset base of 6.6%, fully funded and with no new calls on equity. Back to you, Rick. Thanks, Gerard. Let's move to the last slide before we open up for questions. Slide 40, outlook and distributions. Clearly, our outlook and previous distribution targets have been overshadowed by the offer and the signing of the scheme implementation deed yesterday, albeit that nothing is certain at this stage. From a business perspective, the businesses are in great shape and have great prospects. New five-year regulatory determinations for both SAPN and VPN are in force from 2021. They reflect lower regulatory revenues, but this is largely due to sustained low interest rates affecting regulatory returns. Offsetting this is the enhanced revenue certainty that they have for the next four to five years. Notwithstanding the low interest rate environment, there are signs of a pickup in inflation, from which the regulated and contracted revenues will benefit directly from. From a growth perspective, the prospects are also strong. The approval of the AUD 1.8 billion EnergyConnect ISP project, that's in 2017-18 dollars, was a major milestone for TransGrid as well as for energy transition in Australia. I can tell you it was not without its challenges. Many of these remain. There are green shoots from governments, both state and federal, to address these issues, such that the question mark over whether the required major transmission will be built in time will be removed from the debate, and the focus can return to the retirement of coal plants and their replacement with new renewable and dispatchable generation. In that regard, our announcement of the 2.5 GW Dinawan Energy Hub project has been widely supported by government as a fast track to unlocking the South West Renewable Energy Zone in New South Wales. The announcement around Dinawan has also acted as support for TransGrid to investigate fast-tracking an upgrade of the EnergyConnect transmission line from 330 kV to 500 kV between Wagga Wagga and Dinawan, which could also act as a catalyst to an early build of VNI West between New South Wales and Victoria. Perhaps below the waterline, the distribution businesses continue to investigate new technologies and augmentations to support the increasing effect of rooftop solar and batteries at the local level.With the signing of the SID, we have had to turn off the DRP. We note on this slide that should the offer not proceed, our intention would be to reinstate the DRP to assist in funding the growth opportunities. In relation to distributions, the guidance remains at AUD 0.125 for 2021. That is, a final franked distribution of AUD 0.0625 is still the working assumption. Obviously that is contingent on whether the scheme meetings and implementation occur before the end of the year. With that, thank you very much, and we'll open it up to questions. Thank you. Your first question comes from Rob Koh with MS. Please go ahead. Good morning, gentlemen, and congratulations on both the result and your announcement yesterday. My first question just is a factual question. One of the conditions to the transaction proceeding is foreign merger clearances, which I presume is like the North American equivalent of our FIRB. Maybe you could just confirm that and maybe talk to the comfort that you have that the approvals will be forthcoming. Yeah. Thanks, Rob. Foreign merger clearance is becoming a lot more common in the industry globally, where parties need to seek clearances around the rest of the world in relation to the potential merger of the operations. As Spark doesn't have operations outside Australia, it is highly unlikely that there is any risk there. It should be seen as a fairly procedural aspect. In relation to clearances and maybe FIRB you're referring to, look, it is unpredictable. It's in their court to approach FIRB, and ultimately, obtain that outcome. Having said that, the consortium itself, Canadians and Americans, they are all from obviously what are called the Five Eyes countries. I think that they would expect that FIRB approvals will be able to be obtained. I guess the question in our mind is really around the timing. We will see how that transpires over the upcoming period. Okay, great. Okay. Thanks, Rick. That's very clear. That makes sense. Cheers, Rob. Next question is Yeah, cool. Next question, if I can, just going to TransGrid and its unregulated vehicle, Lumea. I was just wondering if you could give us an update on just how the cash flows come in and are accounted. I'm presuming there's a lag between starting construction and revenues, and just if there's any update on what that average lag is. If the interest in the debt in Lumea is capitalized or is cash. Just modeling questions. Thanks, Rob. I think there's a pretty typical commercial contract construction period of your connection assets and the asset itself are going to follow a similar timeframe. Typically a year to 18 months, depending if it's a solar or wind farm. Revenues will commence upon the commencement of operations of the underlying asset. Your question there was around whether or not it's capitalized or not. Quick answer is. Yeah All assets that Lumea builds under, obviously, a solid contract will be capitalized as soon as they're spent. Okay, great. Yeah, thanks, Gerard. I guess the question is if the debt in Lumea pays out cash interest or it's able to capitalize the interest. Oh I guess the construction. Sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't hear the question correctly. Yes, the interest would just be paid. Okay. All right, cool. Yeah, that's probably 'cause I didn't ask the question properly, Gerard. Don't worry. No. My last question is just in relation to slide 25. I guess the businesses would probably be aggrieved you passed over that one, though should be very proud of their productivity improvements. Just if you could share any color on the TransGrid productivity improvements and their targets going forward, and if the leadership transition there has any impact on that. Yeah, I'll probably take that one, Rob. TransGrid in its life cycle is in a different place than the other businesses. It is going into a very significant growth phase. That, in reality, it's looking to build up its core skills to be able to project manage those very large projects that it's going to be addressing over the next 5-10 years. Its operating base in terms of cost is, if not greater than half of the other distribution businesses. It does have a different operating model. In terms of the change in leadership, Paul Italiano has been in charge for five years. Came in at the very outset, and did very well in leading the transition from being a government-owned public sector business into one operating in the commercial cut and thrust environment that it exists today. He's also been very instrumental in the evolution of the industry. Particularly, what I refer to, obviously, is the developments around the ISP, the important role of transmission in underpinning the backbone of the networks to be able to deliver on the energy transition, and clearly, getting the project EnergyConnect as the first major project under the ISP approved in May, June this year. It was a good time for Paul to reevaluate and think about his future. The business will also look to move on into its new phase, which is going to be heavily around project management of large CapEx projects. Gerard, did you want to just add something there? Yeah. Thanks, Rick. I was just going to remind everyone of the FTE floor, which came off first of July last year. That relates to the privatization terms and conditions that obviously hasn't been reflected in that 2019 number or evaluation. My expectation or our expectation would be that progress and efficiency at TransGrid will continue, notwithstanding the fact that they're also going through a significant growth phase, but there's certainly opportunity there to go up the ranks. Okay, great. Thank you very much. That's it for me for the moment. Thanks, Rob. Next question. The next question comes from Tom Allen with UBS. Please go ahead, Tom. Morning, Rick and Gerard. Just with regard to your plans to build the 2.5 GW in our energy hub, and just broader renewables opportunities as well, can you please talk about how you expect the NSW Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap to impact offtake prices and returns for renewable projects in New South Wales over the next 10 years? Tom, I'll have a first go. It's basically early days. I don't think it's feasible to look through all of that change over the next 10 years. Obviously, each project we'll evaluate on a case-by-case basis. We're looking for certainty of revenues and certainty of returns, low risk, cautious approach, which we've been taking until now. What we do think the team's done particularly well is to put their foot on a really exciting project in the form of Dinawan. We are receiving positive signals from the New South Wales government that they see this as a very important project, one which will certainly contribute to their targets. We'll see in discussions with them as to the form in which that support might take place. Speculating on the power price impacts, I think should take into a number of other key factors, such as the retirement of coal-fired generation, and gas prices and other key levers on that metric. Yeah, difficult to say at the moment, but obviously we're looking to participate in what New South Wales Government is seeking to achieve. Thanks, Gerard. Can you share what returns you'll be targeting then for your investments in renewables that you're planning? Stated that we see renewables as a great way, along with other unregulated components of our business, as being a way to achieve more, a higher return than the regulated return. We're still in that double-digit equity IRR zone. That's what we're looking for. Obviously, that might go up or down depending on the levels of risk that are taken on. I guess the other thing to add is, with the very high quality and significant investments, you'll notice that in the capital management slide, the amount of opportunity we have is well beyond the numbers which we've shown in terms of delivered and owned megawatts. What I can say is the inbound interest to participate with us on renewable projects is significant, and that gives us the opportunity then to crystallize some of the development profits and increase the returns overall. Okay. Thanks, Gerard. Appreciate it. Next question. The next question comes from Ian Myles with Macquarie Equities. Please go ahead. Congratulations, guys, on the bid and the likes. A quick couple of questions, probably my confusion. I thought in your tax page, you actually meant to be getting some sort of refund from overpayment. I was just sort of wondering where that transpired in the numbers. Thanks, Ian. I'll take that one. Basically, the expectation is we'll receive that in the second half. No red flags on that at all. AUD 40 million or thereabout in terms of the tax refund, plus in the region of AUD 5 million of the interest that we've paid being returned. Like I said, it's a pretty detailed process of going back through tax returns over multiple years, working with the team at SAPN and our advisors, and just going through the process with the ATO. No red flags. Like I said, second half. No, that's okay. I just was a bit confused. I thought it might have come through. Okay. You talked about the bid and the support for TransGrid and VPN and SA Power Networks. Rick, are they supportive of the renewable projects or has that sort of been put on ice whilst we go through this process? Thanks, Ian. Nothing's been put on ice. Obviously, when you do sign a scheme implementation deed, there are restrictions to various activities. I am talking about OpEx spend, CapEx spend, commitments, financial indebtedness, all of those types of things. The limits that we've agreed to, I think are pretty reasonable for us to continue our operations without being impeded in any particular way. None of our current plans around renewables have us going out there and spending AUD 50 million, AUD 100 million in a go. That is not the way that our model is currently working. It is for very small outlays, less serving opportunities, and then working those through. Yep. In terms of conversations, there haven't really been many or any significant detailed conversations. We've only just got engaged on Monday. With the signing of the SID, it's all been about negotiations, price, value, composition, the price, et cetera, that we outlined or I outlined earlier, and you saw yesterday. I expect those conversations to come shortly. What I would say is that they were very focused on the very important fundamental and scarcity value of the regulated networks, and we've seen the benefits and qualities of those assets throughout this COVID period, not just in here, but also globally. They have said that they're very supportive about renewables, energy transition, et cetera. It's a small part of our business, as you know, and it's only a small part of the value. It'll be interesting to discuss with them what their plans are. As I said, there really hasn't been any substantive conversations as yet. I appreciate it's probably a bit academic, but are the projects which you've got at the moment far enough developed to actually be in any of the New South Wales sort of tenders, or are you more looking towards a second-round approach that the current round, you're not far enough down that path? No. What I can say is that our renewables team specifically, has been highly engaged with New South Wales. The conversations at this stage that New South Wales is really having with the industry is really around the structure. It's not gone really any further around that. The issues, and it is wider than just New South Wales, it's also in terms of the national market. I'm talking about sort of the shared transmission as well is, there's two issues, obviously. There's the generation and the transmission and what comes first. As I said in my commentary earlier, I am very encouraged that there's discussions around dealing with a number of those issues around the transmission such that it's not an issue, and then it opens it up more freely. Just in relation to those rounds, I think it's too early stage for us necessarily. There'll be greater flesh on the bones, sort of in the next stage for us to get more actively involved in the bidding. Okay. Look, on the tech project, did you mention the EnergyConnect that you're planning to upgrade the line there to 500 kW? Is that what I'm meant to be interpreting? There's an option to do that. As you know, there is also what's called VNI West on the map. Yep which is obviously increased capacity, new line, coming out of that central area, that Wagga Snowy sort of central area, heading down south. HumeLink does the triangle in New South Wales. VNI West is the main linkage, obviously, south. Energy Connect is the main linkage west. There is some duplication, if you like, between Energy Connect and then down into VNI West, depending on what line is on the map. It would make sense to leverage off the Energy Connect line to improve the economics, in terms of being able to potentially move forward the construction of VNI West, which is also very important to be able to be exporting the large quantities of dispatchable generation coming out of the expanded Snowy scheme. It makes sense, as you're Yep to build that extra capacity, if you can work through that. We're having those discussions, or TransGrid is having those discussions, and I think they're very important discussions because ultimately the consumers will benefit from a lower price or lower cost overall. No, that's fine. In terms of the HumeLink, in terms of timetables, will the AEMC have its policy changes potentially up and running prior to you having to make a financial decision on that? I would hope so. Are you- The new sort of actionable process, as you know, is broken down into stages. The first stage is about moving it forward to confirm the project and get more meat around the opportunity and the preliminary costings, et cetera. There's significant time and effort and cost involved in that process. The current stage has been broken up into two stages. We think we're in a good stage to move HumeLink through that first stage reasonably quickly and promptly. When it gets that first tick, we get comfort around the X millions of dollars, tens of millions, hundreds of millions, of whatever it might be, to get it through that first stage. That gives TransGrid, in this particular case, the exact details to then be able to go to the market, get more detailed tenders, et cetera, to get that CPA2 final costing, and confirmation of benefits confirmed. It's at that point, which is obviously FID, is when we would hope to have the exact clarity around also the financing and the financability, investability issues that currently exist. And if- The short answer is yes, it gives us more time. This stage process actually gives us more time as an industry to sort out those issues. If we work backwards, when do you need to actually start the project to be on time for Snowy Hydro 2.0 to be able to connect to the grid in a reasonable fashion? We need to start moving now. Yeah. I'm sorry, when do you need to get FID done to be generally on time? I couldn't comment. I don't have that at my fingertips, Ian. The reality is that we need to kick on the process ASAP, and those discussions are happening right now in terms of ensuring that TransGrid can start early and start moving through this development assessment process to get through to CPA1, as it's called. If we continue with the timeline that's in front of us, it's achievable to ensure that HumeLink is up and running in advance of Snowy coming online. Okay. Look, that's great. Well, well done, guys. Thank you. Thanks, Ian. Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. The next question comes from Rob Koh with MS. Please go ahead. Hi, guys. Yeah, thanks for letting me come back. Just a really, really big and important question here. In the Bomen Solar Farm financial result for the half, there's other revenue of about AUD 900,000. I'm just curious what that is. That includes compensation. Okay. Makes perfect sense. Thanks, Gerard. The next question comes from Nathan Lead with Morgans. Please go ahead. G'day, guys. Congratulations on the bid. If it goes through, it's the end of an era, so well done. Just two or three questions from me. First off, just interested in that slide five where you talk about the corporate restructure that was going to reduce tax. What were you planning on doing there? I'll take that one first. Rick referenced it as being something that we've been planning on, basically to put a single tax-consolidated group in place. That's the key benefit. That means that any losses can be offset with gains or taxable income through the entire group, and avoid what would otherwise be lost taxable losses. Okay. Does that affect the partnership structure to do with SAPN or the Okay. No. It's more managed through the corporate or the top co-level. I think it's difficult, obviously, to put any more detail around it, Nathan, because, as Rick said, we've suspended that discussion with the ATO because obviously we've got other things that we need to focus on. Absolutely. Second one for me, just a matter of interest. At the Deer Park battery, what sort of asset life are you guys thinking about when you're designing that? It's a good question. I don't have the exact answer to hand, Nathan, but batteries will typically have a shorter life than a renewable project. Something in the order of 15-20 years rather than 20-30 years. That would be what I would expect. I don't happen to know the specifics of the Deer Park battery, though. Yep. Okay. Just a final one for me. Obviously, the distributions coming into Spark came off quite a bit during the period versus PCP. Was that partly a plan related to the takeover bid that you actually wanted to hold more capital in the asset companies? I recognize you're minority investors, but was that coming into play? No. Nothing at all. It's all part of the current plans, and it's reflective of going into the regulatory periods, and reflective of a discussion, with co-shareholders, partners, and the asset companies themselves as to how they're going to operate under those new regulatory determinations. Still very healthy in Victoria. South Australia, as I've alluded to a number of times, received a very challenging reg determination around rate of return. Risk-free rate was 0.8 at the time. Didn't get the benefit of the inflation change. There's actually an ongoing exercise with the business to closely examine how tactically, strategically it's going to operate the business over the next few years. In the first instance, while undertaking that review, they've pared back distributions for the time being. I guess we're also comfortable that there should be some additional distributions coming through, but that with the current plan is to have a more minimum level in SA as we speak. In relation to TransGrid, I think Gerard's alluded to it, is that a lot of that surplus capital or surplus cash flow, I should say, is being recycled in the first instance into the expansion of the asset base. Yep. We've seen that gone up and down a little bit. We have now established the new structure for Lumea, such that those contracted assets, and there was a quirk in terms of how the rating agencies view contracted assets. Now that Lumea business is self-sufficient with its own capital management program, so it's sort of easing the burden. Then the regulated business is obviously dealing with massive expansions. Obviously, EnergyConnect, as you know, AUD 1.8 billion in 2017-2018 dollars, so it'll be more than that, obviously, when you put inflation on top. The security holders partners have committed to providing additional equity into the business to assist that funding, which is all part of the financing challenges that we've been trying to discuss with the various authorities. Yep. Great. Thanks for your responses. No problems, Nathan. Are there any more questions? There are no further questions at this time. I'll now hand the call back to Rick Francis for closing remarks. Okay. Thank you very much. Look, thanks everyone for your time and interest and questions. We very much appreciate it. We very much enjoyed all of the conversations that we've had. I know that Gerard and the team will be meeting with more of the analyst folk over the next days or two to ensure that you've got your models working as best as possible. I look forward to further discussions. If you need any further information, please don't hesitate to give us a call. Thank you very much. Cheers.