NSW households and businesses will benefit from cheaper, cleaner electricity with the first tender round for generation and storage projects under the Government’s landmark Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap attracting significant industry interest.
Bids for more than 5.5GW of wind and solar generation projects and more than 2.5GW of long duration storage projects have been received, which is enough to power the equivalent of 2.4 million homes.
NSW Energy Minister Matt Kean said the level of interest was an outstanding result for the Government’s long-term plan to modernise the NSW electricity system.
“This is an overwhelming response from the market and a strong endorsement of the Roadmap’s vision for the NSW electricity system,” Mr Kean said.
“Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and the resulting global energy crisis has added extra impetus to modernise our electricity system.
“The need for new sources of electricity generation that are not tied to the volatility of global commodity prices has never been greater.
“The best way to provide structural, long-term relief from high electricity bills is to drive in new supply and put downward pressure on energy prices at the source, which is exactly what our Roadmap is doing.”
Bids for the generation and long-duration storage tenders will now be independently assessed by the NSW Consumer Trustee, AEMO Services, according to set criteria such as community engagement, regional economic development and land-use opportunities.
Successful projects will be awarded long-term energy service agreements, underwriting the delivery of built energy resources that will benefit the long-term interests of the State’s electricity consumers.
“These tenders have been specifically designed to identify the best projects to bring quality energy to market in the earliest possible timeframe,” Mr Kean said.
“The level of investment we are facilitating in the NSW energy system is unprecedented, which is why these tenders will run every six months for at least the next 10 years.”