NSW biggest winner in new Capacity Investment Scheme renewable tender deals
NSW has emerged as the biggest winner in a series of deals to locate new wind, solar and storage capacity under the new Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS).
The deals struck by the federal climate and energy minister and his state counterparts bring some order to the 23 GW of new wind and solar that will be tendered in the next three years.
The CIS tenders are seen as crucial for Australia to have any chance of meeting its 82% renewables target by 2030.
Federal energy minister Chris Bowen says he still hopes to get there, but the rate of construction, connection and commissioning will have to increase significantly.
NSW, with the biggest grid and arguably the most pressing challenge given the age of its remaining coal fired generators, has been given the highest priority.
It has been allocated up to 7.1 GW, the highest of any state.
The negotiations with Victoria have taken an interesting turn, with the state to be allocated a minimum 5 GW of new generation capacity, but with the solar component limited to 1.5 GW.
Victoria is also allocated more storage, a total of 1.7 GW and 6.8 GWh.
As for the other states, the storage target in South Australia – which is already leading the country and the world with a 75% share of wind and solar in the grid – has been boosted from 600 MW to 900 MW.
Tasmania will get 1.2 GW of new generation capacity, likely to be all wind, while WA – operating its own islanded grid – is allocated 6.5 TWh of new generation and a minimum 1.1GW of four-hour storage capacity.
No deal has yet been struck with Queensland, and progress has been slow given the state poll and the election of a new LNP government.
There are no specific allocations for the ACT, which has already reached its target of 100% renewables.