Latest round of Australia’s CIS tender could drive more storage – but not in Victoria

Bids have opened in the seventh round of Australia’s CIS.

The rules of the renewable energy auction, which is seeking 5 GW of NEM-connected clean power generation capacity, specifically exclude solar-plus-storage projects – and plain solar sites – in the state of Victoria, in line with the renewable energy transformation agreement between the federal and Victorian governments. The CIS tender round also excludes virtual power plants and the use of native-forest wood waste.

Solar-plus-storage sites in other states are permitted to bid in the tender, which closes on Dec. 9, but restrictions will apply to such hybrid projects.

Of the 5 GW hoped for, at least 1.7 GW of the generation capacity must be developed in New South Wales, 1 GW in Victoria, and 300 MW in Tasmania. Queensland and South Australia could be in line for some of the 2 GW of unallocated capacity.

With the results of the latest tender round due in May, all projects must be operational before 2031 and sites that can be delivered earlier will be considered higher merit.

The results of the fourth round of the tender program, which opened in November 2024, were published a week ago with 6.6 GW of generation capacity allocated along with 11.4 GWh of storage capacity. A dozen of the successful projects were hybrids with 11 solar-plus-battery sites and a wind-plus-battery facility.

An eighth round of the CIS, to procure dispatchable capacity for the NEM, is expected to open next month with further tenders planned next year.

From pv magazine Australia.