New South Wales Opens Tender for 500MW of Firming Capacity to Address Summer Reliability Risks

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The government of New South Wales (NSW) has launched a new tender process to procure 500 megawatts (MW) of firming capacity, aiming to strengthen grid reliability ahead of projected shortfalls during the summer of 2027–2028.

Announced by NSW Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Penny Sharpe, at the 2025 Australian Clean Energy Summit in Sydney, the tender seeks infrastructure capable of providing rapid and reliable electricity supply or demand reduction during peak periods. Eligible technologies include battery energy storage systems (BESS), gas generation, and virtual power plants (VPPs).

According to the Ministry for Energy and Climate Change, successful projects will be capable of supporting around 200,000 homes during high-demand events, with particular focus on the Sydney, Newcastle, and Wollongong areas—regions expected to face capacity shortages in the near term.

The tender, to be conducted by AEMO Services Limited (ASL) later this year, will prioritize projects that can deliver reliable power to these key urban centers during peak times. Selected initiatives will join those supported under NSW’s inaugural firming tender in 2023, which included AGL’s Liddell battery, Akaysha Energy’s Orana battery, Iberdrola’s Smithfield battery, and Enel X’s large-scale VPP.

“This tender will provide greater certainty against future reliability risks,” said Minister Sharpe. “We are proactively managing the challenges of transitioning our energy system, while ensuring the lights stay on.”

ASL CEO Nevenka Codevelle highlighted the strategic role of the tender in accelerating firming solutions. “Firming infrastructure plays a crucial role in supporting the reliability of the New South Wales electricity system,” she noted. “This tender calls on projects that can respond flexibly to the needs of the Sydney-Newcastle-Wollongong region by the summer of 2027–28.”

The move is part of the broader NSW Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap, designed to enable the state's clean energy transition while maintaining system reliability.