Fixing Australia’s energy system now with new cheap, clean, reliable renewables

The Albanese Government is delivering enough clean, cheap, reliable renewable electricity to power more than 3 million households, with 19 new projects across New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, and South Australia mostly due to be operational by 2028.

Australian households are paying the prices for an energy system too reliant on aging and increasingly unreliable coal fired power stations and overexposed to unpredictable global fossil fuel price spikes.

The Albanese Government is fixing the energy system now with our Capacity Investment Scheme ensuring enough new affordable and reliable electricity will be brought into the grid to meet demand between now and 2030.

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 Albanese Government 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 this 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 NSW projects, the use of more than $200 million of locally milled steel.

The 19 projects selected as part of this first national tender process, which opened in May, are a mixture of solar and wind generation, and hybrid projects which 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, demonstrating 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 capacity investment scheme which opened last month. Together they will deliver more than one and a half times more energy than the first tender.

Comments from Minister Bowen:

“The former Coalition Government ignored the experts and refused to take advantage of our abundant sun and wind, leaving households paying the price of having a grid that’s too reliant on expensive, unreliable, ageing coal and exposed to international price shocks.

“The Albanese Labor 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.”