New South Wales tender lures 15 GW of renewables, storage bids

Bids for access rights for the South West Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) in New South Wales, Australia, have exceeded the indicative target almost four times, representing over 15 GW of power generation and storage capacity.

The tender, the first one for the South West REZ and the fifth edition of the Aussie state’s Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap, offered 3.98 GW of capacity. The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO Services) announced the results on Thursday and said the substantial demand indicates the “compelling value proposition” for the zone.

The access rights tender lured considerable interest from hybrid projects with wind and solar technologies combined with energy storage systems. The competitive round also attracted bids for long-duration energy storage (LDES) infrastructure which were more than double the target of 1 GW.

The South West REZ is set to cover the area around Hay and is expected to receive up to AUD 2.8 billion (USD 1.87bn/EUR 1.7bn) in private investment by the end of the decade. Back in 2021, the New South Wales government received 49 registrations of interest for the zone for a total of 34 GW of potential generation and storage capacity.

(AUD 1.0 = USD 0.670/EUR 0.605)

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