The NSW Government is boosting energy security and reliability for decades ahead after the Minister for Energy, Penny Sharpe directed ASL to undertake an additional firming tender.
The tender will address a forecast energy shortfall in 2033-34, which was highlighted in the newly released Energy Security Target Monitor report.
The tender will also seek to tackle emerging challenges identified by the report including extended renewable energy lulls. ASL will provide further advice on the reliability risks facing NSW before designing the tender.
The Energy Security Target Monitor report shows an overall improvement in the reliability outlook for NSW compared to the previous year’s report. The improvement is largely thanks to renewable energy and storage infrastructure projects being delivered under the NSW Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap.
The new firming tender is in addition to Tender 7 which commenced in October 2025 and is seeking 500MW of firm capacity to meet reliability needs in 2027-28.
ASL is undertaking additional modelling to determine the size and scope of the tender.
Quotes attributable to a Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water spokesperson:
"The NSW Government has been abundantly clear that our number one priority is to deliver secure, reliable and affordable electricity, through a mix of renewable generation, storage and gas as ageing coal-fired power plants come offline.
"The historic battery rollout marks an exciting milestone, but we can’t rest on our laurels. The latest ESTM report shows while we’ve made great progress, there’s more we can do.
“That’s why we’re building a robust pipeline of projects to meet NSW’s future energy needs, mitigate any possible delays, and ensure value for money to take pressure off the hip pockets for electricity consumers.”