Overview
The Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) is an Australian Government revenue underwriting scheme to accelerate investment in:
renewable energy generation (generation), such as wind and solar
clean dispatchable capacity (dispatchable), such as battery storage.
The Australian Government seeks competitive tender bids for underwriting contracts to support renewable generation and dispatchable projects to:
help deliver the Australian Government’s 82% renewable electricity by 2030 target
deliver an additional 32 GW of capacity by 2030
support electricity generation growth and reliability as demand grows and ageing coal-fired power stations retire
place downward pressure on electricity prices.
The Office of the Capacity Investment Scheme is committed to ongoing and regular consultation to refine the CIS design. This includes formal public consultations on a range of issues and key scheme parameters. Where it is feasible, our goal is to widen the pool of potential participants by including projects from a diverse, clean technology mix that can be operational prior to 2030.
Aggregated Resources (ARs) are predicted to play an increasingly significant role in the energy transition. Current, potentially-related market reforms include the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) recent rule change on integrating price-responsive resources and their review of the Wholesale Demand Response Mechanism, along with AEMO’s on-going consultation on the Voluntary Scheduled Resources guidelines.
We seek your feedback on the potential of ARs and other small projects that can be aggregated as a single market participant to become eligible under the CIS.
Aggregated Resources refer to projects that may not currently be scheduled through the National Electricity Market (NEM) dispatch process but could potentially respond to market price signals. This can include:
Aggregation of small resources less than 30MW, such as:
- distribution network-connected batteries and community batteries
- small-scale solar and wind farmsAggregated demand response (e.g. data centres, irrigation or pumping loads); and
Consumer energy resources like household batteries and rooftop PV operating within Virtual Power Plants (VPPs).
The ‘Aggregated Resources in the Capacity Investment Scheme’ consultation paper describes the CIS and recent developments in Aggregated Resources. The paper invites feedback on potential scheme parameters and limitations for the inclusion of ARs in the CIS with particular focus on:
the potential of Aggregated Resources in the NEM
CIS design parameters and settings
Eligibility and Merit Criteria, and
additional considerations such as metering.
The purpose of this paper is to consult with stakeholders on the potential inclusion of ARs, including scheduled resources with capacities below 30 MW, in CIS NEM tenders scheduled to open in late 2025.
Any feedback on proposed terms, details or conditions of the ‘Aggregated Resources on the Capacity Investment Scheme’ consultation paper that may better enable your participation in the CIS should be included in your response.
To have your say:
read the consultation paper
provide feedback by submitting your response below by 5 August 5:00pm AEST.
Feedback received through the consultation will be used to inform the design of the CIS, including the CIS Tender Guidelines and draft Capacity Investment Scheme Agreement (CISA) for upcoming tenders.
