Tasmania plots more mainland power cables

Tasmanian energy bosses are planning to link the island with the mainland through a series of power generation cables, as the nation shifts from coal-fired plants to renewable energy.

The federal government has already committed $56 million to progress a second interconnector cable across Bass Strait.

Chris Gwynne, who leads the Battery of the Nation project, suggests there could eventually be multiple Basslink-style cables.

"We've done a lot of work not just on the viability of another cable to trigger this sort of investment," he told the Hobart Mercury on Thursday.

"Our view is that you could actually end up over the next 10 or 25 years ... with three or four or five cables."