The Federal Government has announced the largest single ever tender for renewable energy in Australia, introducing six gigawatts of new renewable energy projects for the National Electricity Market (NEM).
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Announced by Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, in a joint statement with the according NSW Minister, Penny Sharpe, the first “auction” for renewable energy projects will occur in late May. According to the statement, the Federal and NSW Governments also signed a deal to deliver at least 2.2gW of renewable energy specifically for NSW.
“We are getting on with the job of delivering practical solutions to keep the lights on for households and businesses using the cheapest, cleanest form of power – reliable renewable energy,” said Bowen. “The rain doesn’t always fall, but we always have water on tap because we store it for when we need it – our energy plan does just the same thing for reliable renewables.”
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The agreement with NSW builds on the success of the first Capacity Investment Scheme/NSW Roadmap pilot tender conducted in 2023 that is currently delivering six battery and virtual power plant projects with more than one gigawatt of capacity.
The inclusion of NSW projects in this first CIS tender will replace the scheduled Q2 2024 generation Long-Term Energy Service Agreements (LTESA) tender under the NSW Roadmap. Generation projects that are eligible for LTESA tenders will be eligible to participate in the CIS tender.
NSW will proceed with its scheduled Q2 2024 LTESA tender for long-duration storage infrastructure as well as processes to award access rights for NSW’s Central West Orana and South-West Renewable Energy Zones.
“NSW is leading the nation when it comes to delivering the energy transition. We’re already about half-way to meeting our generation target, and a quarter of the way to meeting our storage target,” said Sharpe. “This is a significant win for NSW electricity consumers, with the Commonwealth supporting our biggest round of generation projects yet to deliver low-cost, reliable energy to homes and businesses.”
The Government also announced an allocation of 300mW for variable renewable energy will also be exclusively dedicated to projects delivered in South Australia, subject to final agreement between the Commonwealth and SA Governments.
The first round of tenders for Western Australian projects, targeting 500mW of dispatchable power through storage for renewables, will open mid-year, subject to consultation and final agreement.
A market briefing on the May tender will be released in early May outlining the tender process. Tender rounds will run in the NEM approximately every six months until 2027.