The New South Wales (NSW) government has launched its sixth tender under the Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap seeking an indicative 1 GW of new long-duration energy storage projects to boost electricity reliability as the state’s coal-fired power generators are shut down.
AEMO Services, the part of the Australian Energy Market Operator tasked with running the competitive tenders for the NSW government, said projects can bid for long-term energy service agreement (LTESA) contracts under the new NSW Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap. The government-backed LTSEAs are designed to de-risk projects by providing investors with long-term revenue certainty and protection against low wholesale electricity prices.
The Tender 6 round offers support for up to 1 GW of capacity and at least 8 GWh of long-duration energy storage projects that can be operational by 2034.
NSW has estimated it needs 2 GW / 16 GWh of long-duration storage capacity by the end of the decade, and a total of 28 GWh by 2034 to address the impending gap created by the anticipated closure of the state’s ageing coal-fired power generators.
AEMO Services Executive General Manager Nevenka Codevelle said this new tender will take the state closer to its target of 2 GW of new long-duration storage by 2030.
“We’re now looking ahead to our next long-duration storage tender for assets that commit to be operational by 2034, scheduled to open before 30 June 2025,” she said. “In particular, we want to see more short lead time projects that contribute to our 2030 minimum objective.”
The tender is open to projects connecting to existing transmission and distribution infrastructure, or new infrastructure in the state’s five planned renewable energy zones where the project has been granted an access right.
Codevelle said the success of the recent Tender 5 for long-duration storage projects, which were announced in February, would serve as a running start for the next round.
Projects awarded LTSEAs in Tender 5 included two batteries energy storage systems and a pumped hydro project, with a combined capacity totalling 1.03 GW and 13.79 GWh of energy.
“Tender 5 was the most successful long duration storage tender to date,” Codevelle said. “It demonstrates the strong market interest to invest in long-duration storage projects and we’re excited to see more in Tender 6.”
Proponents are now able to register and begin preparing a project bid with registrations for Tender 6 to close 29 May 2025. Project bids close 10 June 2025.
Codevelle said projects will be subject to “a two-stage tender process that assesses a project’s social licence commitments, deliverability, impact on the grid and quality of proponent. The second assesses a project’s financial value to NSW electricity consumers.”
AEMO Services said the tender program has already supported projects expected to contribute more than 2.4 GW of generation, 18 GWh of long-duration storage and almost 3 GWh of firming capacity to NSW’s energy grid.
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