The Australian federal government is to seek 10 gigawatts of new wind and solar capacity this year, along with 3 GW of dispatchable capacity, as it races to meet its ambitious target of 82 per cent renewables by 2030. The tender program for 2024 – comprising a 6 GW tender for wind and solar in the next quarter, and another 4 GW in the second half of the year – was flagged in a new paper that sets out how the expanded Capacity Investment Scheme will operate. The tenders will be the biggest ever held in Australia, and come as the country falls behind its 2030 renewables target, with analysts saying that the roll out needs to be accelerated, particularly in NSW, the largest grid. And it comes amid increasing pressure from conservatives in their campaign stop the construction of large scale renewables, and keep coal fired power plants open until nuclear can be built, which would not be possible until some time after 2040. The plan for the CIS program is to hold tenders every six months, and basically lock in projects by 2027 so they can be built by 2030, although there is still some question whether technologies such as pumped hydro could meet that deadline. The NSW government, at the same time, issued a statement saying that 18 wind, solar and battery projects had received planning approval, equating to 7.6 GW of generation and storage capacity. It said a further 29 renewable energy projects are in the planning process and another 70 new projects are about to be submitted for department approval. The state is in the process of redrawing its planning guidelines, although some of these proposals have sparked controversy. (ICE SYDNEY)

Fonte notizia: RenewEconomy