New South Wales Attracts $43 Billion Potential Investments For 17 GW Renewables

In what could be called as a great show of trust in the renewable sector, the New South Wales (NSW) state government (Australia) has announced that the Illawarra Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) has attracted A$43 billion worth of potential investments in response to a call for expressions of interest for large-scale energy and green manufacturing projects in the state.

Minister for Energy, Matt Kean informed that a total of 44 projects were registered spanning offshore and onshore wind, solar, energy storage, pumped hydro, green hydrogen and green steel that could deliver 17 GW of green power generation and storage capacity.

Kean held, “The response has been tremendous, with particularly strong interest in offshore wind, energy storage technologies and green hydrogen.” He also added that the Illawarra REZ will help deliver cheap and reliable energy, power existing industries, support emerging industries and create thousands of new jobs.

The key takeaway of the new possible investments is that over A$35 billion investment will be from10 wind generation projects. Out of these, 8 will be located offshore that will generate about 12.9 GW of green energy. Other projects include: 5 solar projects, 16 energy storage projects including 11 batteries, 4 pumped hydro projects, 4 hydrogen production and two hydrogen electricity generation projects and 3 new load projects including green steel manufacturing.

The minister said, “The Illawarra has a proud history of manufacturing and the REZ will only build on this legacy, with ROI projects including emerging manufacturing industries such as green steel production.”

The official statement of the state government said that the information provided through the ROI will be used by the Energy Corporation of NSW (EnergyCo) to inform the timing, capacity, design and location of the Illawarra REZ and is the first step in engaging with industry on its design.

It also said that EnergyCo will be engaging closely with industry, local government, local communities and other stakeholders as it progresses the design and delivery of the REZ.

The government informed that the REZ is expected to be formally declared under the NSW Government’s Electricity Roadmap legislation by the end of this year.