Joint media release: Delivering more Reliable Renewables in South Australia

The Hon Chris Bowen MP, Minister for Climate Change and Energy

The Hon Tom Koutsantonis MP, South Australian Minister for Energy and Mining

South Australia has become the first state to sign a final Renewable Energy Transformation Agreement to ensure the delivery of enough new renewable energy infrastructure to power every household in Adelaide, in return for dedicated Federal funding support.

The agreement has been reached as part of the Albanese Government’s plan to have an additional 32 gigawatts of renewable generation and storage built and operational around the country by 2030 under the Capacity Investment Scheme.

Growing demand for energy combined with aging infrastructure – some of which was built half a century ago – means the scale of the roll out for new renewables needs to be ambitious. But the bilateral agreements have been designed specifically to address the barriers developers, communities, and governments face in delivering renewable projects.

This supports overdue reform to ensure governments are working together to deliver reliable renewables into the grid and ensure all communities benefit from the energy transformation.

While South Australia is the first state to formalise the agreement, agreements are currently being finalised with other states and territories.

State and Federal Energy Ministers agreed last year to use the agreements to strengthen collaboration, identify specific responsibilities through individual and joint commitments, identify mechanisms to unlock and fast-track new energy investment and project delivery, and keep the grid reliable.

For South Australia, the agreement means:

• The Albanese Government will underwrite developers to build a minimum 1000 megawatts of new wind and solar projects in South Australia, enough to power all households across Adelaide; and
• The Albanese Government will also underwrite 400 megawatts of new storage capacity to ensure renewable power is available for homes and businesses 24/7, taking the total new storage capacity supported in South Australia to at least 600 megawatts;
• South Australia commits to delivering its Hydrogen Jobs Plan, a key plank of the State Prosperity Project;
• South Australia will establish its own specific grid reliability mechanism and benchmark to be used in place of the national framework, and to be responsible for identifying and delivering new projects and technologies that will maintain reliability to that standard;
• A shared commitment by the South Australian and the Federal Governments to a range of practical actions to implement new policies, practices and processes that improve community engagement and drive better social and economic outcomes from the energy transition. This includes increasing First Nations participation in planning, building and operating the new assets, and improving planning and approvals processes to ensure projects can be built by 2030; plus
• Shared responsibilities to bolster transmission; skills and workforce outcomes; energy efficiency for South Australian homes and businesses; community energy resources; and renewable energy supply chains.

Quotes attributable to Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen:

“The Albanese Government is delivering the certainty and confidence the market spent a decade asking for.

“The more renewable energy we have in our grid, the more downward pressure it puts on energy bills because it is the cheapest form of energy to power households and industry.

“Giving the market the confidence to build new projects is good; signing an agreement to collaborate with South Australia on practical steps to get the best out of this energy transformation for South Australian workers, communities and industry, is great.

“The Albanese Government’s Reliable Renewables Plan is the only plan supported by experts to deliver the clean, cheap, reliable and resilient energy system that Australians deserve. This is in sharp contrast to Peter Dutton’s anti-renewables nuclear plan – which remains uncosted and unexplained."

Quotes attributable to South Australian Minister for Energy and Mining Tom Koutsantonis:

“South Australia has been a renewable energy pioneer – so much so that we recently brought forward our renewable energy target by three years, committing to ensure electricity generation can be sourced from net 100 per cent renewables by 2027.

“So we warmly welcome this agreement to accelerate the roll out of renewables while ensuring the reliability of the energy system.

“Our government is committed to working with the Commonwealth to establish a secured grid, supporting the power needs of South Australian households and businesses.”