Prior to 1993, a number of small dams in NSW discharged water without any hydro-electric generation. In that year, Transfield devised a plan, on a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer basis, to build five power stations near a similar number of dams. The project was completed in 1996. The plants had a combined capacity of 50 megawatts, which flowed in the State's electricity grid.
By this time, with its pioneering experience in BOOT projects such as the Sydney Harbour Tunnel and its acquisition in 1988 of ICAL (International Combustion Australia Limited) Transfield now had the credentials to establish itself as an investor/operator of power plants.