New energy projects are powering ahead in the National Electricity Market (NEM), according to the Australian Energy Market Operator’s (AEMO) December 2024 Scorecard.
Each quarter, AEMO produces a scorecard tracking the progress of new generation and storage projects connecting to the NEM, from application through to full output.
The December quarter of 2024 saw 20 new projects gaining application approval (4.9GW), eleven registered (1.7GW) and four reaching full output (0.6GW).
AEMO Onboarding and Connections Group Manager, Margarida Pimentel, highlighted the increasing momentum in project registrations, with 1.7GW registered in the December 2024 quarter and 5.2GW over the six months prior.
“Project registrations in the last six months are more than double those in the previous 12 months. This surge reflects the wave of application approvals in 2023,” Ms Pimentel said.
Solar projects led registrations in the December quarter with 831MW, followed by wind (440MW), batteries (350MW), and upgrades to existing facilities (49MW).
“These registered projects are built, connected to the grid and can now move through to the final commissioning phase,” Ms Pimentel said.
Meanwhile, application approval volumes over the past six months are similar to the same period the year before with 7.5GW reaching this important milestone, while 2GW achieved full output, compared to 2.2GW through the entire FY 2024.
As of 31 December 2024, 49.6GW of projects were progressing through the connections process, up from 36.4GW at the end of 2023.
“Given the NEM’s total generation and storage capacity of 66GW, nearly 50GW of new projects marks a significant pipeline of future energy supply,” Ms Pimentel said.
Around 36 per cent of this capacity was in New South Wales, 32 per cent in Queensland, 21 per cent in Victoria and ten per cent in South Australia.
“The scorecard data also reveals that 18.1GW out of the 49.6GW within the connections pipeline are battery projects, representing a 97 per cent increase on the 9.2GW in progress during the same time last year,” Ms Pimentel said.
Also continuing during the December 2024 quarter were improvements from the Connections Reform Initiative (CRI) Streamlined Connections Process (SCP), which are continuing to improve the ease with which projects connect to the NEM.
“Improvements were trialled on energy projects via the Federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) Summer Readiness Program, the ongoing NSW DCCEEW program and business as usual developments,” Ms Pimentel said.
“A dedicated NSW DCCEEW team at AEMO and network service provider Transgrid have been collaborating effectively during the program to resolve issues faster, work in parallel and set attainable, accelerated project timelines with the proponents.
“As part of this, there was an acceleration of timeframes across all four NSW DCCEEW projects, which are tracking between four and ten weeks ahead of their previous schedule.”
The scorecard follows AEMO’s Quarterly Energy Dynamics report for Q4 2024, revealing record-breaking demand levels in the NEM, a surge in renewable energy contributions and a fall in coal power system availability.
