The Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) will support six renewable energy projects across Victoria and South Australia that will be able to deliver a combined 3,626MWh of energy from 2027, enough to supply the peak electricity demand for one million homes.
The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) said that the CIS aims to encourage new investment in renewable energy dispatchable capacity that means Australia has the capacity to meet its growing electricity demand and fill reliability gaps as ageing coal power stations exit the grid.
The tender allocation delivers an additional 1,630MWh to Victoria and 1,996MWh to South Australia. Conditional on signing a Capacity Investment Scheme Agreement, the projects are due to start operation by mid-2027.
The projects are:
- The Wooreen 350MW energy storage system operated by EnergyAustralia in the Latrobe Valley on the existing site of the Jeeralang Power Station at Hazelwood North
- The Springvale Energy Hub 115MW battery energy storage system to be developed by Progress Power on the site of a former landfill in south-eastern Melbourne
- The Limestone Coast West 250MW lithium-ion battery storage operated by Pacific Green near Mount Gambier
- The Solar River battery storage system, part of a hybrid project of 256MW, operated by Zen Energy, located north of Adelaide between Burra and Morgan
- The Clements Gap 60MW battery energy storage system, operated by Pacific Blue, at the Clements Gap Wind Farm, in South Australia’s mid-north
- The Hallett 50MW battery energy storage system owned by Energy Australia, in Canowie, 210km north of Adelaide
DCCEEW said that the successful projects in this tender have committed a total investment of $12.5 million of shared benefits to local project communities and $6.5 million of initiatives for local First Nations groups, as well as extensive use of local supply chains.
Federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, said that the Federal Government is making sure that when Victorians and South Australians hit the light switch, they have access to the cheapest, reliable renewable power, when and where they want it.
Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources, Lily D’Ambrosio, said that Victoria is the home of big batteries, and the investment will help accelerate the build of renewable energy storage across the state.
“Energy storage capacity is critical to keeping power prices down by storing cheap renewable energy when it’s abundant and dispatching back into the grid when it’s needed most,” Ms D’Ambrosio said.
“More renewable energy and storage capacity is critical to meeting our target of 95 per cent renewables by 2035 and energy storage targets of at least 2.6GW by 2030 and 6.3GW by 2035.”
South Australian Minister for Energy, Tom Koutsantonis, said that the South Australian Government was at the forefront of bringing grid-scale batteries into the electricity system.
“This template is now being keenly taken up around the world with the recognition that renewable energy, when firmed with batteries, can provide greater reliability and flexibility than once thought possible,” Mr Koutsantonis said.
“The system we pioneered continues to set records and break barriers. We are seeing batteries proposed that may have substantially larger storage capacity, longer duration, or both.
“South Australia already boasts more than 75 per cent of its energy coming from renewable sources, and we’ve brought forward our target to boost that to a net 100 per cent by 2027.”
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