The first Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) tender round in Australia successfully awarded 3.5GWh of co-located battery energy storage systems (BESS) as renewables-plus-storage projects.
This was spread across 2.75GW of solar PV and 3.55GW of wind being successful in the tender round. Several of these projects feature a co-located BESS.
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In total, 19 projects have successfully completed the tender process, with the majority located in New South Wales and Victoria, with seven projects each. Queensland saw three successful projects whilst South Australia secured two projects.
Of the 19 successful projects in the first tender auction, 11 featured solar PV, with the rest comprising wind energy. The tender round opened in May 2024 and sought 6GW of renewable energy generation.
In New South Wales, developers Elgin Energy and Lightsource bp succeeded with their respective solar PV projects. Elgin Energy saw a bid for its 60MW Glanmire solar-plus-storage project, featuring a 104MWh BESS, accepted.
Windlab also saw its 585MW Junction Rivers wind-plus-storage project successful in the tender round. This includes an 800MWh BESS co-located on site.
In Victoria, developers European Energy Australia, Gentari, Risen, Lightsource bp and Elgin Energy all saw success with their respective projects.
The largest of these successful solar PV bids in the tender was Lightsource bp’s 300MW West Mokoan solar-plus-storage project. Featuring a 560MWh BESS, the project will be separated across two sites with hopes it will be operated by Q4 2026.
Victoria saw several successful solar-plus-storage projects alongside the West Mokoan project. These include two from Elgin Energy and one more from Gentari.
Gentari’s 64MW Barnawartha Solar and Energy Storage project features a 138.8MWh BESS. Located around 300km northeast of the state capital, Melbourne, the project is hoped to complete energisation by 2027 and be connected to the National Electricity Market (NEM).
Through its Barwon and Elaine solar PV power plants, Elgin Energy successfully completed 375MW of solar-plus-storage projects in Victoria.
The 250MW Barwon project features a 500MWh BESS and will be situated on a 735-hectare site around 34km north of the Geelong City Centre. The Elaine project has a generation capacity of 125MW and will be complemented with a 250MWh co-located BESS. It is currently in the permitting phase.
All three projects successful in Queensland feature solar PV and amount to 550MW of solar PV generation capacity. The three projects are divided between ACS Solar and Edify Energy.
The largest of these solar PV power plants is ACS Solar’s Hopeland solar project, with a generation capacity of 250MW. The project is being developed in the Western Downs region of south Queensland and received a connection approval in April 2024.
The two successful Edify projects are both solar-plus-storage. These include the 150MW Majors Creek Solar Power Station and the 150MW Ganymirra Solar Power Station. Both will be accompanied by a co-located 600MWh BESS.
Parts of this article first appeared on our sister site PV Tech.
