NSW Firming Tender opens

NSW’s next electricity infrastructure tender has opened, with energy storage and demand response projects invited to help further secure the reliability and resilience of NSW’s electricity system.

The tender is seeking to secure around 500 MW of additional firming and/or demand response capacity from projects that can support reliability in the Sydney–Newcastle–Wollongong (SNW) sub-region during periods of peak demand.

Projects must be able to achieve commercial operations prior to November 2027, with batteries, gas generation, demand response and aggregated portfolios of smaller batteries eligible to participate.

ASL is conducting the tender in its capacity as the NSW Consumer Trustee.

ASL CEO Nevenka Codevelle said, “The firming tender opens on 2 October and ASL wants to see every project that can meet the tender requirements participate. This is a standalone opportunity for project proponents to secure a firming or demand response LTESA that can be used to accelerate delivery and support revenues when in operation.”

The tender is open to projects in NSW, with priority given to those within the SNW sub-region. ASL has also published a map of other areas with relatively high locational reliability factors, with projects located in these areas also expected to perform well in the system benefit assessment.

Projects must be able to dispatch continuously at their maximum capacity for around two hours or longer.

“We’ve made key changes to the firming LTESA which includes increasing the maximum contract term to 15 years and making it easier for aggregations of smaller energy storage systems to participate,” Codevelle said. “ASL is also reducing our tender timeframes, with a new single-stage process being used for the first time in a Consumer Trustee tender to accelerate delivery timeframes.”

The target tender size of 500 MW is indicative, with ASL as the Consumer Trustee having discretion to support a greater or lesser volume than the target based on the merit of bids.

“If you have suitable energy storage or demand response projects which can contribute meaningfully to reliability in the Sydney–Newcastle–Wollongong sub-region by summer 2027/2028, we strongly encourage you to participate,” Codevelle said.

For more information on the tender, visit the ASL website.

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