Australia’s New South Wales has seen 532MW of firming projects contracted through its seventh infrastructure tender, securing two projects designed to strengthen electricity supply during periods of peak demand and system stress in the Sydney-Newcastle-Wollongong region.
ASL revealed today (15 May) that the tender has awarded Long-Term Energy Service Agreements (LTESAs) to one battery energy storage system (BESS) and one virtual power plant (VPP), with both projects contracted to reach commercial operations by the end of November 2027.
Together, the projects will deliver 2,128MWh of storage capacity to address a forecast supply shortfall during summer 2027-28. This was predicted by the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) last year, which also noted that South Australia could experience reliability gaps from 2026-27.
The tender was conducted following a direction from NSW climate change and energy minister Penny Sharpe to secure an indicative 500MW of firming capacity.
As previously reported by Energy-Storage.news, ASL opened the tender in October 2025, inviting participation from battery storage, gas generation, demand response and aggregated portfolios of smaller systems.
