The Australian federal government is to seek 10 gigawatts of new wind and solar capacity this year, along with 3 GW of dispatchable capacity, as it races to meet its ambitious target of 82 per cent renewables by 2030.

The tender program for 2024 – comprising a 6GW tender for wind and solar in the next quarter, and another 4 GW in the second half of the year – was flagged in a new paper that sets out how the expanded Capacity Investment Scheme will operate.

The tenders will be the biggest ever held in Australia, and come as the country falls behind its 2030 renewables target, with analysts saying that the roll out needs to be accelerated, particularly in NSW, the largest grid.

And it comes amid increasing pressure from conservatives in their campaign stop the construction of large scale renewables, and keep coal fired power plants open until nuclear can be built, which would not be possible until some time after 2040.

The federal and state governments agreed last year to expand the CIS to 32 GW, which would include 23 GW of new generation and an expanded target of 9 GW of dispatchable capacity, broadly described as four hours of storage.

more to come