NSW tender round delivers 750 MW of generation, more than 4,000 MWh of storage

The successful projects from the third tender conducted under the New South Wales (NSW) government’s Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap have been announced with one solar project, one wind project, two lithium-ion battery energy storage system projects and one advanced-compressed air energy storage system awarded long-term energy service agreements.

The successful projects include the 350 MW Culcairn Solar Farm being developed by Neoen near Albury in the Riverina region and the 400 MW Uungula wind project being built by Squadron Energy near Wellington in the state’s central west.

The long-duration storage projects include a 275 MW/2,200 MWh lithium-ion battery energy storage system to be built by Ark Energy, a subsidiary of Korea Zinc, at Myrtle Creek near of Casino in northern NSW.

Another eight-hour lithium-ion battery, the 49 MW/392 MWh Goulburn River project being built by Lightsource bp at Merriwa in the Upper Hunter Valley, was also successful in this third tender round.

Hydrostor’s 200 MW/1,600 MWh Silver City compressed air energy storage project being developed near the outback town of Broken Hill rounds out the projects to be fast-tracked under the state’s Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap incentive scheme.

The government said the five projects are expected to be operational from 2028 and represent $4.2 billion (USD 2.82 billion) in private sector investment in the state’s renewable energy infrastructure.

NSW Energy Minister Penny Sharpe the state has now locked in 5.79 GW of its legislated 12 GW renewable target for generation and 574 MW of the legislated 2 GW target for long-duration storage.

“NSW is now almost halfway there on our 2030 renewable generation target, and over a quarter of the way there on our long-duration storage target,” she said.

AEMO Services Executive General Manager Paul Verschuer said the results of the latest tender round out a significant year for the NSW Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap tender program.

“AEMO Services has delivered three highly successful tenders throughout 2023,” he said, adding that participation in the tenders demonstrates “the market value and fit of our innovative financial contract, which offers projects exposure to market upside and reduces risk and cost to consumers compared to traditional schemes.”

But while pleased with participation levels in the first year of tenders, Verschuer said the state would need to continue development “at or near record levels” to remain on track to meet its minimum investment objectives.

Verschuer said AEMO Services will continue to deliver biannual tenders for at least the next decade.

The five projects announced in the third tender are expected to support an estimated 1,000 jobs over the project lifetimes, $2 billion in local supply chain benefits, and enough generation to power 360,000 NSW homes per year.