‘Way behind’: NSW commits $1.8b to rescue transition

afr.com:

The NSW government has committed $1.8 billion from its upcoming budget in a bid to get back on track for its 2030 renewables targets, but the investment in batteries and transmission will not be enough to head off the extension of the Eraring coal power station.

Some $1 billion of the funds will provide initial capital for a new body, the NSW Energy Security Corporation, to invest alongside industry in community batteries and pumped hydro to help the increasingly renewables-dependent grid stay reliable.

NSW Minister for Energy and Minister for Climate Change Penny Sharpe announcing plans to extend Eraring earlier this week. Kate Geraghty

Another $800 million will go to accelerate investment in transmission needed to connect abundant wind and solar in the state’s south-west with customers on the eastern seaboard. The extra funds will increase NSW’s Transmission Acceleration Facility to $2 billion.

“We are way behind in that endeavour, and we need to get back on track,” Premier Chris Minns said of NSW’s lagging build-out of the power grid to support the transition to renewables.

“We don’t have a second to lose.”

NSW is aiming to increase renewable energy supply to 33 terawatt-hours by 2030, the equivalent of almost three times the annual output of the 2880MW Eraring generator on the Central Coast.

The commitment to create a NSW Energy Security Corporation was made by NSW Labor in the run-up to the state election, with the state-owned energy company to co-invest with the private sector, rather than targeting outright ownership of renewable energy assets. The plan was greeted favourably by renewables players, with Clean Energy Council chief executive Kane Thornton saying it appeared to “strike the right balance… to ensure