NSW hands out 12 GWh in long-duration storage contracts to six major lithium-ion battery project
The New South Wales (NSW) Roadmap Tender Round 6 for long duration storage (LDS) has awarded long-term energy service agreements (LTESAs) to six new lithium-ion battery energy storage projects representing 1.17 GW / 11.98 GWh of capacity.
Bumping the state’s storage under contract to 30 GWh, the latest tender round meets the NSW Roadmap’s legislated Minimum Objective of delivering 2 GW of LDS by 2030 and 28 GWh by 2034.
Tenders are managed by AusEnergy Services Limited (ASL), formerly the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO).
Subject to the relevant planning approvals, the largest of the six projects with a nominal storage duration of 10.6 hours include French developer Neoen Australia’s 330 MW/3,500 MWh Great Western Battery, in Wallerawang, near Lithgow, 140 kilometres northwest of Sydney.
Singapore and Norway headquartered BW ESS Australia’s 233 MW/2,676 MWh Bannaby Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in the Southern Tablelands, with nominal storage duration of 11.5 hours, and Korea Zinc subsidiary Ark Energy’s 250 MW/2,414 MWh (9.7 hours) Bowmans Creek BESS, in the Upper Hunter, have also been successful.
Two projects near Armidale, 481 kilometres north of Sydney, include Spanish renewable energy developer FRV Services Australia’s 158 MW/1,440 MWh (9.1 hours) Armidale East BESS, and US-based Bridge Energy’s 100 MW/870 MWh (8.7 hours) Ebor BESS.
Also in the New England and North West region of NSW, near Tamworth, 111 kilometres south of Armidale, the sixth successful tender has been awarded to Spain headquartered Iberdrola Australia’s 100 MW/1,080 MWh (10.8 hours) Kingswood BESS.
Minister for Climate Change and Energy Penny Sharpe said the six big batteries mean NSW is on track to “smash out” storage targets, harvesting the sun and the wind, so NSW can be powered around the clock and put downward pressure on prices.
“We’re not stopping here – NSW will support more projects, so we’re ready for a grid powered by renewable energy, supported by gas,” Sharpe said.
ASL Chief Executive Officer Nevenko Codevelle said it’s encouraging to see proponents utilising and valuing the flexibility of the LTESA product to suit their project’s needs.
“These agreements also deliver value to consumers by unlocking investment into additional capacity that can reduce price volatility,” Codevelle said.
“We’re about to see the first LDS projects contracted through these tenders come online. These are eight-hour-plus storage projects that would not otherwise have reached financial close or delivered energy for NSW consumers. It’s a very exciting time for the NSW energy transition.”
Two more long duration storage tenders are currently scheduled in the second quarter of 2026 and another in 2027.
“There are no guarantees of further LDS tenders beyond this point, so we expect competition to strengthen even further for these future tender rounds,” Codevelle said.
The next LDS tender will commence in Q2 2026, seeking 12 GWh of projects, followed by a further 12 GWh in 2027.
ASL will recommence tenders for the Generation LTESA, with a tender seeking 2.5 GW of projects also scheduled to start in Q2 2026.
A tender seeking 500 MW of firming and demand response projects that can be operational by the end of 2027 is currently underway scheduled to be completed by the end of May 2026.
The NSW Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap (launched 2020) is a 20-year, legislated plan to transition the state’s energy system to cleaner, cheaper, and more reliable sources.
It focuses on building Renewable Energy Zones (REZs) to replace aging coal-fired power stations with 12GW of renewable energy and 2GW of storage by 2030.
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