![The winning projects in the 3rd tender round of NSW’s Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap include 350 MW Culcairn Solar farm of NEOEN. (Photo Credit: AEMO Services)](http://media.assettype.com/taiyangnews%2Fimport%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2023%2F12%2FAEMO-Services.jpg?w=480&auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=max)
The New South Wales (NSW) has selected 3 renewable energy projects with a combined 750 MW capacity, including a 350 MW solar power plant, for the 3rd tender round concluded under the state's Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap.
Apart from the 350 MW Culcairn Solar Farm of NEOEN Australia, Squadron Energy's 400 MW Uungula Wind Farm is the other winner. Both these projects have secured an average fixed price for awarded generation Long Term Energy Service Agreement (LTESA) of less than AUD 55 ($37)/MWh for a period of 20 years.
The remaining projects selected are all storage facilities. Those are as under:
Under this tender round, the AEMO Services had offered 950 MW for wind and solar energy generation along with 550 MW of long duration storage (LDS). However, the agency received a total of 3.1 GW of renewable energy bids in response, along with 1.6 GW for LDS (see Australian RE & Storage Tender Oversubscribed).
All of the winning projects are expected to become operational before calendar year 2028.
AEMO Services' Executive General Manager Paul Verschuer said, "From the strength of the response to the first year of our tender process, it's clear that the insurance provided by the LTESA contract is working to address a key market risk that might otherwise delay or discourage investors from participating in the transition."
With this round, AEMO has now contracted a total of 2.14 GW generation and 574 MW/4,592 MWh LDS and 1,075 MW/2,980 MWh firming capacity in all 3 LTESA tender rounds so far, out of 12 GW renewable energy and 2 GW LDS capacity it seeks to add by 2030 under the roadmap.
The 4th round was launched by AEMO in November 2023 to procure 3,000 GWh/year of renewable energy generation projects (see NSW Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap's 4th Tender Round).