New South Wales formally declares Illawarra REZ

New South Wales’ Minister for Energy Matthew Kean has formally declared the Illawarra renewable energy zone (REZ) with an intended network capacity of 1 GW.

The declaration order was published in the NSW Gazette on Monday. It specifies the intended network capacity, geographical area and infrastructure that will constitute the REZ. The planned network capacity is expected to be enough for existing and committed generation in Southern NSW and the Illawarra to be accommodated on the grid. The capacity can, however, increase over time in pace with new industries such as offshore wind and green hydrogen.

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EnergyCo has been appointed as the Infrastructure Planner to coordinate the development of the REZ.

A Registration of Interest (ROI) process for the Illawarra REZ last year attracted 44 projects, representing over AUD 43 billion (USD 29bn/EUR 27bn) in investment and over 17 GW of generation and storage capacity. This included eight offshore wind projects.

Illawarra is one of five REZs that the NSW government is developing in the state.

(AUD 1 = USD 0.675/EUR 0.638)