Australia’s CIS Tender 8 to source aggregated small batteries for the first time

A market brief for the Australian federal government’s Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) Tender 8 has been released ahead of its official opening in late November 2025, and for the first time invites aggregrate projects to apply.

The last tender of the year, focused on dispatchable energy, says proponents can opt for their projects to be assessed for their potential to unlock additional network hosting capacity for renewable energy, while all projects will be assessed on their physical capability to contribute to system security services, including system strength, voltage control, frequency management and system restoration.

Demonstrated merit will favour a project’s ability for voltage support, to offer a remedial action scheme, to be grid forming and/or have non-commercial time-shifting.

Aggregate projects

For the first time, aggregrated projects with capacities between 5 and 30 MW, all comprised of the same technology, are conditionally eligible to apply, where the aggregate capacity exceeds 30 MW.

Following the release of the Australia Energy Market Operator’s (AEMOs) final guidelines on voluntarily scheduled resources (VSRs), expected in late 2025, the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) intends to investigate ways to further broaden CIS eligibility to accommodate sub-5 MW capacity, standalone projects holding an exemption from AEMO, registered as VSRs, in future CIS tenders in the NEM, the brief says.

Projects located in NSW and South Australia (SA) may be eligible to participate in either the NSW Roadmap Tender Round 7 (NSW Firming tender) or the SA FERM Tender Round 1 (SA FERM tender), which overlap with this Tender 8 process.

However, a project recommended for either the NSW Firming tender or the SA FERM tender, or execute an agreement for either that project will not be recommended for CIS Tender 8.

Tender 8 is the second CIS tender seeking NEM dispatchable capacity, with 16 successful bidders of CIS Tender 3 announced in September 2025 that will provide a combined 4.13 GW / 15.37 GWh to the NEM, the largest of which is United Kingdom-headquartered developer Lightsource BP’s Goulburn River standalone battery energy storage system (BESS) that will provide 450 MW of generation and 1,370 MWh of capacity.

From pv magazine Australia.