Australia’s Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) Tender 4 round has been a resounding success as the country selected 20 renewable energy projects representing a combined 6.6 GW, surpassing the original 6 GW capacity target for this round. A highlight of this round is the adoption of battery energy storage systems (BESS) by 12 out of 20 winning solar and wind projects, representing a combined capacity of 3.5 GW/11,400 MWh.
Australia’s Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, said that this round attracted 84 bids representing 25.6 GW capacity, more than 4x the 6 GW target.
“The Capacity Investment Scheme continues to be popular and competitive, delivering cheaper, cleaner and more reliable energy for all Australians for years to come,” said Bowen. “We are rebuilding Australia’s energy grid to make it modern, reliable and fair and attracting global interest in our wind and solar.”
Solar leads the tally with 12 winning projects, comprising 11 in a hybrid mode using battery energy storage system (BESS). Lightsource bp’s 281 MW Lower Wonga Solar Farm is the only solar project in the winners’ list with no accompanying BESS.
The largest winning solar and storage project in this round is Potentia Energy’s Tallawang Solar Hybrid, with 500 MW of solar and a 500 MW/1000 MWh BESS. This project was recently approved by the New South Wales Independent Planning Commission for the Central West Orana Renewable Energy Zone (see Asia Pacific Solar PV News Snippets).
AEMO Services Limited (ASL) launched the tender in November 2024 with the largest chunk of 2.2 GW for New South Wales (see Australia Opens CIS Tender 4 With 6 GW Renewable Energy Capacity).
These projects represent over AUD 17 billion of local content, and more than AUD 1.1 billion of Australian steel. All of the projects are required to start generating clean energy for the grid by December 31, 2029.
They will share revenues with First Nations Communities. Over their lifetime, these facilities are expected to create more than 12,000 construction jobs, over 1,000 O&M jobs, and 190 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions for apprentices in trades, according to the administration.
A list of winning projects in the CIS tender 4 is available on ASL’s website.
CIS Tender 7 launched
ALS has also launched CIS Tender 7, targeting 5 GW of National Electricity Market (NEM) generation capacity: 1.7 GW in NSW, 1 GW in Victoria, 300 MW in Tasmania, and 2 GW in other regions. For NSW, the capacity is capped at around 2 GW, but it may be increased if any previously awarded projects in the state withdraw.
The Victoria government has required a cap on solar and solar-hybrid projects; hence, these won’t be eligible for this tender round.
Registrations for this round opened on October 7, 2025, and will close on November 25, 2025. Bids will open on October 14, 2025, and will close on December 9, 2025. Successful bids will be announced in May 2026 according to an indicative timeline on ASL’s website.
A flagship scheme of the Australian government to promote renewable and dispatchable energy deployment, CIS was recently expanded to 40 GW, comprising 26 GW of renewables and 14 GW of clean, dispatchable capacity. ASL launched CIS Tenders 5 and 6 for 1.6 GW and 2,400 MWh, respectively, in August 2025 (see Australia’s ASL Invites Bids For CIS Tenders 5 & 6).
