Chart and Map of the Day: The big winners from Australia’s biggest wind and solar auction

As Renew Economy reported on Wednesday, the results of the federal government’s first big country-wide tender under the Capacity Investment Scheme have been announced.

It was the biggest auction ever held for wind and solar capacity in Australia, and in the end 19 wind, solar and hybrid (those with battery storage) projects totalling 6.4 gigawatts (GW) were awarded an underwriting agreement, with NSW taking the lion’s share with 3.7 GW.

A couple of maps and charts published by industry analysts Rystad Energy illustrate how much capacity was allocated and where.

It was always the intention for NSW to get most capacity – the result of a series of bilateral agreements between the federal and state energy ministers – but the scale of it was a surprise.

And, as many have observed, the results were heavily weighted towards the Central West Orana renewable energy zone, with just one in the south-west REZ,. where so many giga-scale projects are jockeying for limited positions on the grid.

This map above from Rystad Energy illustrates where the locations and size of the winning projects. Note that Tasmania missed out, South Australia was awarded only wind projects and Queensland only solar. NSW and Victoria had a mix although most of the latter’s projects were solar PV.

Western Australia is a separate grid with a separate system, and the federal government will hold W.A.-specific auctions.

This next chart illustrates the targeted amounts of capacity and the result.

NSW did a lot better than expected – a reflection of the urgency of its need to replace ageing coal generators with new capacity, Victoria and South Australia did slightly better and Tasmania got nothing – maybe a result of some of the planning hurdles in the island state.

Queensland secured two neighbouring solar farms totalling 300 MW (with an adjoining 600 MWh battery) even though it is yet to sign a bilateral agreement with the federal government.

Queensland, of course, has a new state government that has stated it wants to repeal the state’s renewable target, and has said it really does not like wind.

The developers that did best out of the auction were Lightsource BP, which secured 1.4 GW from three big solar projects. Neoen would have come second, but it has agreed to sell the winning Kentbruck project in Victoria as part of its agreement with regulators for the takeover by Brookfield, which controls the local network owner.

Acen Renewables came second in the end, with a single 935 MW project, Valley of the Winds in NSW, while HMC Capital – chaired by former prime minister Julie Gillard – did well with the 600 MW Kentbruck wind project it picks up as part of its agreed purchase of Neoen’s Victoria assets.

Two companies controlled by Andrew and Nicola Forrest – Squadron Energy and Windlab – also did well, as did UK-based newcomer to the market Elgin Energy and the homegrown Edify Energy with the two Queensland projects.

See a full list of projects in our story here: NSW gets lion’s share as 19 solar, wind and hybrid projects win Australia’s biggest renewable tender

And also: CIS auction wins ensure South Australia will be first grid in world to reach 100 pct net wind and solar