About 11 of the 20 projects allocated in the latest round of the Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) include solar sites in addition to battery energy storage systems (BESS).
Investor confidence in large-scale, hybrid solar and BESS development was clearly demonstrated in Australia’s fourth tender Generation of National Electricity Market (NEM) in the CIS program. More than half of the twenty successful bids concerned solar plus storage locations.
With 84 bids representing 25.6 GW, more than four times the tender’s 6 GW target, 12 of the 20 projects have a combined scale of 3.5 GW/11.4 GWh, enough to support the peak load of over 2.6 million households for four hours.
CIS NEM Generation Tender 4 will be delivered by 11 hybrid solar and BESS projects with a total capacity of more than 3.4 GW; one 281 MW solar-only project; seven wind projects, with a capacity of more than 2.5 GW; and one 104 MW/217 MWh wind and battery project.
Federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said the CIS remains popular and competitive, delivering cheaper, cleaner and more reliable energy for all Australians in the coming years.
“We are rebuilding Australia’s energy network to make it modern, reliable and fair, and to generate global interest in our wind and solar energy,” Bowen said.
“The program will not only deliver clean energy, but also create thousands of high-quality jobs, often in remote and rural areas, and opportunities to train the next generation of engineers, electricians and tradesmen who will build our energy future.”
The biggest winner was New South Wales (NSW) headquartered Edify Energy, which was acquired by Canadian investment group La Caisse in September 2025, winning three tenders for solar BESS projects. Located in Queensland and each with a capacity of 300 MW / 1.2 GWh are the Guthrie’s Gap and Smoky Creek solar power stations.
Edify also won a tender for a solar-plus-battery project in Victoria, for the 300 MW/1.2 GWh Nowingi Solar Power Station.
Spain-based developer Energias de Portugal Renewables has won two solar battery bids, for its 450 MW/1.8 GWh Merino Solar Farm in NSW, and the 400 MW/1.6 GWh Punchs Creek Solar Farm, 64 kilometers south-west of Toowoomba, Queensland.
Winners of separate bids for BESS solar projects included Sydney-based developer Potentia Energy, for its 500 MW/1 GWh Tallawang Solar Hybrid, in NSW; and France-based TotalEnergies for its 363MW/813MWh Middlebrook Solar Farm, located 22km south of Tamworth.
Potentia Energy Chief Executive Officer Werther Esposito said the company is pleased that the bid for the Tallawang Solar Hybrid project was successful.
“Once operational, Tallawang will generate 500MW of solar power and provide 500MW/1,000MWh of storage, making it one of the largest hybrid projects in NSW,” Esposito said.
“Renewable energy zones will become the beating heart of Australia’s clean energy movement and the CIS is critical to accelerating this national transition. Potentia Energy is excited and proud to play a key role.”
NSW-based Athena Energy Australia and Genaspi Energy Group (GEG), Ireland’s BNRG Leeson and China’s Sungrow were also successful bidders for individual solar BESS projects.
The largest of these is GEG’s 300MW/1.2GWh Stage 1 Bundey BESS and Solar in South Australia (SA), with the ultimate goal of developing a 1.2GW/3.9GWh BESS and 900MW solar farm that will be linked to Project Energy Connect to supply SA, NSW and Victoria.
Of the twenty successful bids, one is for a solar-only project in Queensland, the 281 MW Light source BP Lower Wonga Solar Farm, near Gympie, 174 km north of Brisbane. But that location will include an adjacent BESS facility.
In addition, the projects represent AUD600 million ($394 million) in local benefits, with an estimated AUD291 million in shared community benefits and AUD348 million in First Nations benefits captured.
Three projects include First Nations revenue sharing agreementswhile others have committed to First Nations subcontracting, training and workforce development.
Developers will be given further opportunities with CIS Tender 7 – targeting 5 GW of NEM generation capacity – now open for registration and accepting bids from Tuesday, followed by the next available capacity round in late November.
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