First tender round for new electricity infrastructure to open October 4
The target open date is October 4 for the inaugural tender round for new generation and long duration storage as part of the NSW Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap.
The Roadmap is an ambitious policy framework that coordinates investment for generation and storage infrastructure across the NSW electricity network, with the long-term aim of cheaper and more reliable energy for NSW consumers.
Dr Paul Moy, Chair of AEMO Services, said the announcement of the first tender was an important milestone for the electricity market transition in NSW. He congratulated the teams at AEMO Services, AEMO, Energy Co and the Office of Energy and Climate Change in developing a comprehensive programme in consultation with investors, lenders and the communities that will host new renewable and storage investments.
“Since the Roadmap was enacted, more than 3.6GW of energy investment has been committed or ‘anticipated’ across NSW and AEMO Services expect nearly all of these projects to be eligible to participate. Many, many more projects have also sufficiently progressed through the development pipeline and are likely to be eligible.
He said the process also offered significant opportunities for local communities with the tender round open to projects from right across NSW. The round has been designed to deliver local community benefits and support communities and a social licence to operate, whilst still ensuring value for electricity consumers.
Melanie Koerner, Acting Executive General Manager of AEMO Services, said that the tender process had been designed through extensive consultation with energy project proponents to encourage high levels of participation, ensuring that the Roadmap’s infrastructure objectives would be met.
“Our primary responsibility is to act in the long-term financial interests of consumers. Our tender process is designed to foster competition, by providing an efficient and repeatable bidder experience for project proponents and ultimately lowering costs for consumers.
“Our Q4 2022 tender is the start of our 10-year tender plan and marks a fundamental change to the way electricity
investment is delivered in NSW and Australia. That scale of that transformation is reflected by the unique products on offer
and the rolling nature of our tenders.
