In April, the NSW government opened consultations on “specific urgent and mechanical policy details” on regulations needed to implement its Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap released late last year. The Roadmap aims to unlock 12GW of new renewable energy capacity from selected Renewable Energy Zones (REZs) with an additional 2GW in storage by 2030.
In our Chart of the Week Issue 39 last June which highlighted the looming energy gap between retiring coal generators and growth of renewables, we predicted that the announcement of the Central West Orana (CWO) REZ was the first of many to come. A year on, that prediction has come true with the announcement of the Roadmap aiming to unlock even more REZs last November. In this Chart of the Week, we take stock of how this energy gap has evolved since last year, and we provide commentary on the likely impact the Roadmap will have on the market going forward.