The Minns Government has announced an additional $1.8 billion injection into the state’s energy transition.
$800 million will go into the Transmission Acceleration Facility to connect the state’s Renewable Energy Zones (REZ) to the grid sooner and bring forward the benefit schemes for communities. That funding injection will support early works in the Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone and maintain momentum in the other planned REZs, the Hunter Transmission Project and the Waratah Super Battery.
EnergyCo, the Government’s Renewable Energy Zone infrastructure planner administers the funds.
The other $1 billion will establish the Energy Security Corporation (ESC) which was announced during NSW Labor’s election campaign.
The Energy Security Corporation will make investments in storage projects, addressing gaps in the current market, and improving the reliability of our electricity network as we transition to renewables. Storage projects could include community batteries and virtual power plants that enable households to pool electricity generated from rooftop solar.
NSW Premier Chris Minns said they inherited a renewable energy roadmap that was off course.
“We need to ensure that we are producing 33 terawatt hours of energy via renewable means by 2030. At the moment, to put it into perspective, Eraring generates about 12 terawatt hours of electricity so we need three times the amount of electricity generated by renewable means.
“We’ve got a very short and narrow window to get it done, so we don’t have a second to lose.
“This is a serious, long-term step towards ensuring we get the transition right.”