The NSW Government has announced the $1.5 billion Clean Energy Superpower Fund that will help accelerate the deployment of rooftop solar, community batteries, major grid batteries, and pumped hydro across NSW.
According to the State Government, a re-elected Government will accelerate the transformation of the State’s electricity system by establishing a $1.5 billion Clean Energy Superpower Fund, which will include the Transmission Acceleration Fund and new funding to aid the delivery of renewable energy storage and grid security projects such as pumped hydro and batteries.
The State Government said it would also invest an additional $23 million to launch the development of the Energy Infrastructure Roadmap to include rooftop solar and small-scale batteries, and to remove local grid limits, allowing more people to produce and share energy locally.
Premier Dominic Perrottet stated that Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine had resulted in a worldwide energy crisis and that the Government’s immediate plan was to cap coal prices and award households $250 for shopping around for a better energy package to encourage market competition.
“The NSW Liberal and Nationals Government’s long-term economic plan includes rolling out our Roadmap — the most ambitious renewable energy policy in the nation — which is expected to attract $32 billion in private investment and support more than 9000 jobs by 2030,” Premier Perrottet said.
According to Premier Perrottet, Chris Minns and NSW Labor talk about nationalising the grid, but doing so would blow a $32 billion hole in the budget and push up home energy prices.
“Only a re-elected Liberal and Nationals Government can be trusted to lower energy bills and manage the state’s economy,” the Premier claimed.
Treasurer and Minister for Energy Matt Kean stated that there are presently 813,000 rooftop solar systems installed in NSW, saving each household up to $600 per year on energy bills, with this figure expected to rise to 1.5 million by 2030.
“Rooftop solar is a no-brainer to save money on energy bills, but we know that tens of thousands of families can’t get the full benefit of their system because of network constraints which limit the amount of energy they can export to the grid,” Minister Kean said.
Minister Kean added that the Clean Energy Superpower Fund would bust through these constraints, helping roll out the storage and network infrastructure that the grid needs to unlock future renewable energy.
To ensure all projects are in customers’ long-term financial best interests, the projects will continue to be independently evaluated by AEMO Services or the Australian Energy Regulator.
The Clean Energy Superpower Fund expands on the historic $7.8 billion Rewiring the Nation deal reached between the NSW Government and the Federal Government in December.
