NSW's Illawarra renewable energy zone draws 17 GW of project proposals

A call for registration of interest (ROI) for developing large-scale projects within the Illawarra Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) in New South Wales has attracted AUD 43 billion (USD 29.5bn/EUR 29.6bn) worth of potential investments, the state government said today.

The Aussie state has received proposals for onshore and offshore wind, solar, energy storage, pumped storage hydro, green hydrogen and green steel projects with a potential capacity of 17 GW. A total of 44 projects have been registered as part of the ROI process.

“The response has been tremendous, with particularly strong interest in offshore wind, energy storage technologies and green hydrogen,” said New South Wales Treasurer and Energy Minister Matt Kean.

According to the results, interest has been expressed for 10 wind schemes totalling 12.9 GW, of which eight will be offshore. The list also includes five solar, 16 energy storage, four pumped hydro storage and four hydrogen production schemes. Developers have also indicated interest in two hydrogen electricity generation schemes and three new load projects involving green steel manufacturing.

The gathered information will be used by the Energy Corporation of NSW (EnergyCo) to progress the design and delivery of the REZ.

The New South Wales government aims to establish five REZs in line with its Electricity Strategy and Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap. The Illawarra REZ is expected to be formally declared one of them by the end of 2022.

(AUD 1.0 = USD 0.686/EUR 0.689)

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