The Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) will be able to generate and store additional renewable energy, with EnergyCo announcing an increase in size.
In December 2023, the intended network capacity of the Central-West Orana REZ was expanded from 3GW to 6GW, initially operating at 4.5GW.
EnergyCo has now formally updated the amount of renewable generation and storage that can connect to the transmission network in the Central-West Orana REZ to 7.7GW, which is expected to drive greater benefits to New South Wales energy consumers and the host community.
The increase in transfer capacity was formalised under the Central-West Orana REZ Access Scheme via a transfer capacity determination.
EnergyCo said the network capacity of 4.5GW allows for 7.7GW of renewable energy and storage projects to be connected because wind, solar and battery assets can operate at different times of the day and do not all export energy at exactly the same time.
The capacity increase does not increase the scope of the Central-West Orana REZ transmission corridor. Extensions are not currently proposed and would be subject to separate planning and regulatory approval processes.
EnergyCo said the decision to increase the generation capacity of the Central-West Orana REZ was made following consultation on the Notification of Draft Headroom Assessment, which was published on 1 August 2024, with stakeholder feedback incorporated where appropriate.
