AEMO has published its latest connections scorecard, revealing that 3.5 gigawatts (GW) of wind, solar and battery projects were registered in the September quarter, surpassing last year’s total of 2.4 GW.
AEMO developed the Connections Scorecard in collaboration with market participants and industry stakeholders to track the progress of generation and storage projects from application through to full operation within the National Electricity Market (NEM).
AEMO Executive General Manager System Design Merryn York said the rise in projects advancing to registration follows an increase in application approvals from the previous year.
“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,” Ms York said.
"These projects are built, connected to the grid and can now move to the final commissioning phase," she said.
The projects registered comprise three wind (1.8 GW), three battery (1.25 GW) and four solar (0.4 GW) projects.
Additionally, seven projects totalling 1.3 GW1 reached full generation output during the September quarter, compared to 0.8 GW over the same period last year. This group includes four wind farms, a hybrid battery and solar farm, and one gas-powered generator.
“We’ve seen a jump in projects progress from registration to commissioning this September quarter compared to the same period last year. Additionally, on average, these project sizes are 60% larger,” Ms York said.
Momentum with early-stage application approvals continued, with 2.6 GW getting the green light in the September quarter, up from 1 GW in the same quarter in 2023.
“Project applications are progressing, and we’ve noted that the average time taken has reduced from around 11 months to 10 months over FY2024, and this shorter duration remained steady over the September quarter,” Ms York said.
At the end of September, 45.6 GW of generation and storage capacity was working through various stages of the connections process, equal to 70% of the NEM’s total generation capacity. This is a 36% increase in capacity compared to 33.4 GW in the same period last year.
While implementing internal procedure improvements, AEMO is also working with the Clean Energy Council and industry to streamline the connections process further through the Connections Reform Initiative (CRI).
This includes developing guidelines to provide clarity for generators proposing upgrades or adding storage to existing connections.
A new Early Assessment Framework is also under development, which involves AEMO working directly with original equipment manufacturers to approve new products as they are being developed. This aims to reduce the level of uncertainty for project developers when selecting an original equipment manufacturer and remove assessment duplication across projects, minimising delays.
Other improvements involve trialling alternative, less intensive, connection assessment approaches. Additionally, an online registration portal for the submission and assessment of market registration applications is under development.
“These and other CRI reforms aim to significantly increase the volume of new connections and build best practice to improve efficiency throughout the process from application to commissioning,” Ms York said.
“We expect the duration for each stage of the connections process will continue to shorten as these and other new reforms are implemented,” she said.
1 Rye Park Wind Farm (384 MW, NSW), Flyers Creek Wind Farm (140 MW, NSW), Mortlake South Wind Farm (153 MW, VIC), Hawkesdale Wind Farm (90 MW, VIC), Wellington North Solar Farm (330 MW, NSW), Western Downs BESS (200 MW, QLD), Hastings Generation Site (43 MW, VIC).
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