The latest connections scorecard from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) reveals a significant uptick in renewable projects registrations across the National Electricity Market (NEM).
Data shows so far 3.5 gigawatts (GW) of new wind, solar, and battery projects have been registered in the September quarter.
This figure surpasses the entire 2023 total of 2.4 GW and indicates a notable acceleration in renewable capacity connecting to the grid.
AEMO’s Connections Scorecard, developed in collaboration with market and industry stakeholders, tracks the journey of generation and storage projects from application to full operation in the NEM.
Merryn York, AEMO’s Executive General Manager for System Design, said the increased registrations reflect rising application approvals and a marked growth in project scale.
“In the September quarter alone, 10 projects totalling 3.5 GW were registered, well in advance of last year’s total. This highlights considerable momentum,” York said.
“These projects are built, connected to the grid and can now move to the final commissioning phase.”
Additionally, seven projects reached full generation capacity during this period, contributing 1.3 GW to the grid—a substantial rise from the 0.8 GW achieved in the same quarter last year.
This group includes four wind farms, a hybrid battery and solar farm, and a gas-powered generator.
Project applications have also gained speed, with approvals for early-stage projects doubling from 1 GW in the September quarter of 2023 to 2.6 GW this year.
By the end of September, a total of 45.6 GW of generation and storage capacity was in various stages of the NEM’s connections process—equivalent to 70 per cent of the NEM’s total generation capacity and marking a 36 per cent year-on-year increase.
In addition to internal procedural enhancements, AEMO is working with the Clean Energy Council and other industry bodies through the Connections Reform Initiative (CRI) to further streamline the connections process.
This initiative includes developing guidelines for generation upgrades, new storage solutions, and a new Early Assessment Framework to approve equipment directly with original equipment manufacturers.
A new online registration portal is also underway to improve the submission and assessment process for market registrations.
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