The NSW government has unveiled a $32 billion Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap to drive strong investment in new wind, solar and storage projects to replace the ageing coal fleet in the state with Australia’s largest grid.
Under the ambitious plan, the state Liberal government will target $32 billion of new private investment in electricity infrastructure by 2030, including the development of renewable energy zones, 12GW of new renewable energy generation capacity, and 2GW of new energy storage projects.
The roadmap will be supported by an Electricity Infrastructure Investment Safeguard that will offer long term energy services agreements, which effectively work as a power purchase agreement by setting an electricity price foor for projects and significantly reducing investor risk.
“NSW has some of the best natural resources in the world and this Roadmap is about acting now to leverage our competitive advantage and to position NSW as an energy superpower,” the state’s energy minister Matt Kean said in a prepared statement.
The plan is expected to slash NSW electricity sector emissions by around half, compared to a business-as-usual trajectory, with an equivalent reduction of around 90 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually by 2030, drive down electricity costs for consumers and create around 23,600 jobs between 2032 and 2037.“Our priority is to keep the lights on and get power prices down, with the Roadmap forecast to save NSW households an average of $130 and small businesses an average of $430 on their electricity bills each year,” Kean said. “NSW has some of the best natural resources in the world and this Roadmap is about acting now to leverage our competitive advantage and to position NSW as an energy superpower.”
