The Federal Government has announced the 19 new projects that have been approved under the Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) Tender 1, with most due to be operational between 2026 and 2028.
The Federal Government said the projects – spread across New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, and South Australia – will add 6.4GW of renewable energy to the National Electricity Market (NEM).
The new projects include:
- New South Wales: seven projects producing 3.7GW (plus 900MWh of battery storage)
- Victoria: seven projects producing 1.6GW (plus 1500MWh of storage)
- South Australia: two projects producing 574MW
- Queensland: three projects producing 550MW (plus 1200MWh of storage)
The CIS aims to ensure enough new affordable and reliable electricity will be brought into the grid to meet demand between now and 2030.
The Federal Government said bids were rigorously assessed through a fully independent third party, AEMO Services Limited, based on the project’s likelihood of lowering wholesale energy market prices, how well it helps deliver system reliability, and proposed benefits to local communities and First Nations Australians, including through using locally sourced project materials and supplies, and job creation.
The Federal Government also said it expects economic and social benefits for local and First Nations communities are a core part of the transition to renewables.
There is a broad range of social licence commitments made in the first round of tenders, including $660 million in shared community benefits, $280 million in First Nations benefits, over $14 billion in expenditure on local businesses, $60 million in local employment and for New South Wales projects, the use of more than $200 million of locally milled steel.
The 19 projects selected as part of the first national tender process, which opened in May 2024, are a mixture of solar and wind generation, and hybrid projects that include a battery on site to ensure Australian homes have the cheapest available power when and where they need it, day or night.
Successful projects were chosen from 84 bids proposing to deliver about four and a half times more capacity than what was tendered for. The Federal Government said this demonstrates that the pipeline of investors wanting to construct and operate cheap, clean, reliable renewable projects in Australia is currently strong.
Bids are now coming in for the third and fourth tender rounds of the CIS, which opened in November 2024. Together they are expected to deliver more than one and a half times more energy than the first tender.
Federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, said the Federal Government is delivering Australian households and businesses an energy system that is lowest cost, more reliable and better equipped to power Australian homes and businesses now and into the future.
“We are also making sure that the communities who host these projects see the benefits of them – with strong commitment to use Australian manufacturing and hire local people.”
View the full list of approved projects here.
