Australia has invited bids for 5 GW of renewable energy projects in the National Electricity Market as part of the seventh tender under the Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS).

Bids must be submitted by December 9, 2025. Successful bids will be announced in May 2026.

Bids can be submitted to set up renewable power generation projects with an installed capacity of at least 30 MW.

The project allocation is 1.7 GW in New South Wales, 1 GW in Victoria, and 300 MW in Tasmania. The remaining 2 GW is yet to be allocated.

Solar and solar-hybrid technologies are not eligible for projects in Victoria.

All projects must achieve commercial operations before the end of 2030.

The CIS aims to develop renewable generation and firming projects to deliver cheaper, cleaner, and more reliable energy for homes and businesses while coal is being phased out. Through this program, the Australian government plans to deliver 82% or 40 GW of renewable energy capacity nationwide by 2030.

Recently, Australia announced the results of the fourth auction under CIS. A total of 20 projects were selected, delivering 6,640 MW of renewable energy, compared to the 6,000 MW originally planned. Twelve of these projects include battery storage along with the wind or solar capacity, amounting to 3,509 MW/11,444 MWh.

In September 2025, Australia announced the results of the third auction for dispatchable power under the CIS program, with the successful battery energy storage projects expected to deliver 4.13 GW/15.37 GWh of capacity.

In August, the Australian government floated the fifth and sixth tenders for 1,600 MW of renewable energy and 2,400 MWh of energy storage capacity, respectively, in Western Australia as part of the CIS program. The storage projects must use energy from the grid or from renewable sources.

Last December, the Australian government selected 19 renewable energy projects totaling 6.38 GW, including eight hybrid power projects of 3.6 GWh under the CIS Tender 1.