Federal energy and climate minister Chris Bowen says wind farm developers who are struggling to get finance for the projects – despite being offered an agreement under the government’s flagship underwriting scheme – will be able to re-bid, but won’t be able to change their contracts.
Wind energy projects have struggled to get going, largely because of rising costs, transmission delays and the inability to seal significant off-take deals with the country’s big four gentailers and other corporate buyers.
There has been speculation about possible changes to the CIS since Bowen first acknowledged the difficulties with wind energy in an episode of Renew Economy’s Energy Insiders podcast in late April, where he said wind will “require further work.”
However, Bowen has since rejected the suggestion that contracts could be renegotiated, but said on Wednesday morning that project developers could re-submit bids in later auctions.
“No, we won’t be doing that,” Bowen said when asked about the potential for renegotiations of wind projects. He was speaking at the announcement of the results of the latest battery storage tender.
