New South Wales taps 4.3 gigawatts of renewable energy projects in bid to move away from coal generation

Renew Economy:

The New South Wales state government says it has shortlisted 16 projects comprising more than 4.3 gigawatts of generation and storage capacity in the first of more than a dozen auctions designed to underpin the switch of the country’s biggest coal grid to renewables.

State treasurer and energy minister Matt Kean says that bids for more than 4.3GW of generation and long duration storage will now be assessed by AEMO Services under the inaugural tender for the NSW Electrity Roadmap.

NSW is looking for more than  $32 billion of new investment to cover the retirement of all, or nearly all, of the five remaining coal generators in the state over the next decade.

Auctions will be held twice a year until 2030 at least to ensure enough replacement capacity is built in time. The state government is aiming for 12GW of new renewables and at least 2GW of long duration energy storage.

The government did not reveal any further information about the nature of the short-listed projects, or the ration of wind and solar, or battery or pumped hydro. The storage projects need to meet a criteria of at least eight hours storage.

[Giles Parkinson]

More: NSW shortlists 4.3GW of wind, solar and storage projects in first renewables auction