The Australian Government has entered into new agreements with the governments of Western Australia and South Australia to deliver more renewable electricity generation and storage.
Western Australia
The Government of Western Australia entered into a bilateral Renewable Energy Transformation Agreement with the Australian Government on 19 July 2024.
Through the agreement, the Australian Government commits to support developers in Western Australia to build a minimum of:
- 6.5 TWh of new wind and solar projects in Western Australia
- 1.1 GW of new storage capacity, helping keep the electricity grid stable.
The Government of Western Australia commits to retire its state-owned coal-fired power stations by 2030 and replace them with reliable renewable electricity generation and storage. Western Australia will also maintain reliability through the Western Australia Reserve Capacity Mechanism.
The agreement affirms and builds on allocations of renewable energy to the states and territories through the Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS). The CIS seeks tender bids for renewable electricity generation and clean dispatchable capacity projects to deliver an additional 32 GW of capacity by 2030.
The CIS Tender 2 opened on 22 July 2024 and will target 500 MW of 4-hour equivalent dispatchable capacity in the Western Australian Wholesale Electricity Market.
South Australia
South Australia was the first of the state and territory governments to enter into a bilateral Renewable Energy Transformation Agreement with the Australian Government on 10 July 2024.
Through the agreement, the Australian Government commits to support developers in South Australia to build a minimum of:
- 1000 MW of new wind and solar projects, enough to power all the homes in Adelaide
- 400 MW of new storage capacity.
The Government of South Australia commits to deliver the Hydrogen Jobs Plan by early 2026 through the building of:
- a renewable hydrogen power plant
- a hydrogen electrolyser
- a storage facility.
The hydrogen facilities will provide more job opportunities for South Australians and support lower energy costs for consumers.
South Australia will also establish a state grid reliability mechanism in the next 12 months to maintain energy reliability. The mechanism will be in line with a new South Australian reliability benchmark.
Through the agreements, the governments of Western Australia and South Australia agree to work with the Australian Government to support achieving the national target of 82% renewable electricity by 2030.
They also commit to working with the Australian Government to address barriers to the energy transition by:
- improving community engagement
- ensuring participation of First Nations people
- accelerating planning and approvals processes
- addressing supply chain constraints
- delivering skills and workforce outcomes.
