The New South Wales Government’s Illawarra Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) has attracted $43 billion worth of potential investments in response to a call for expressions of interest for large-scale energy and green manufacturing projects.
New South Wales Minister for Energy, Matt Kean, said 44 projects were registered – including offshore and onshore wind, solar, energy storage, pumped hydro, green hydrogen and green steel – potentially delivering 17GW of generation and storage capacity.
“The response has been tremendous, with particularly strong interest in offshore wind, energy storage technologies and green hydrogen,” Mr Kean said.
“The Illawarra REZ will help deliver cheap and reliable energy, power existing industries, support emerging industries to thrive, and create thousands of new jobs in the future.”
Registered industry interest includes:
- More than $35 billion in potential investment from ten wind generation projects, with eight located offshore, totalling 12.9GW of generation capacity
- Five solar projects
- Sixteen energy storage projects including eleven batteries
- Four pumped hydro projects
- Four hydrogen production and two hydrogen electricity generation projects
- Three new load projects including green steel manufacturing
“This highlights the variety of large-scale energy projects being developed in the region, that will ensure the Illawarra plays an important role as a powerhouse of the renewable energy economy,” Mr Kean said.
“The Illawarra has a proud history of manufacturing and the REZ will only build on this legacy, with ROI projects including emerging manufacturing industries such as green steel production.”
The information provided through the ROI will be used by the Energy Corporation of New South Wales (EnergyCo) to inform the timing, capacity, design and location of the Illawarra REZ and is the first step in engaging with industry on its design.
EnergyCo will be engaging closely with industry, local government, local communities and other stakeholders as it progresses the design and delivery of the REZ.
The Illawarra REZ is expected to be formally declared under the State Government’s Electricity Roadmap legislation by the end of 2022.
