$1.8 billion in NSW renewable projects announced through Capacity Investment Scheme

22 November 2023 10:34

By Staff Reporter

The federal and NSW governments have announced six projects through the Capacity Investment Scheme, aimed at providing over a gigawatt of dispatchable power across the state.

The projects from the tender are:

Akaysha Energy’s Orana Renewable Energy Zone battery, located in Wellington in central-west NSW, with 415 megawatt capacity and 1,660 megawatt hour, four-hour storage capacity;
AGL Energy’s Liddell battery, located in Muswellbrook, with 500 megawatt capacity and 1,000 megawatt hour, two-hour storage capacity;
Iberdrola Australia’s Smithfield Sydney battery, located in Smithfield in Western Sydney, with 65 megawatt capacity and 130 megawatt hour, two-hour storage capacity;
And three separate virtual power plants through Enel X Australia’s demand response project totalling 95 megawatt capacity with minimum dispatch duration of two hours.

According to a joint statement on Wednesday, the projects collectively represent 1,075 megawatts of reliable capacity, and eight per cent of the total 2022/23 NSW summer peak demand into the network at short notice.

Each is targeting commercial operations by December 2025, and together they total $1.8 billion in energy infrastructure.

“4GW of dispatchable power left the grid over the past decade with only 1GW to replace it – announcements like today’s are the result of Governments getting on with the job of delivering a cleaner cheaper grid for NSW,” said federal energy minister Chris Bowen.

Federal, state and territory ministers agreed to establish the Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) in December 2022. It aims to deliver at least $10 billion in new renewable energy investment and six gigawatts of generation and storage by 2030.