On 22 July 2024, Western Australia signed a Renewable Energy Transformation Agreement (RETA) with the Federal Government and opened registration for the first CIS tender in the state.
Renewable Energy Transformation Agreement
The RETA forms part of the federal government’s energy and emissions reduction agenda, whereby it partners with state and territory governments to achieve shared objectives such as lowering obstacles faced by developers, communities and governments in delivering renewable energy projects. The RETA is part of the federal government’s plan to build an additional 32GW of renewable generation and storage by 2030.
Under the RETA signed with WA, the federal government will underwrite developers to build 6.5TWh of new wind and solar projects and 1.1GW of energy storage.
South Australia was the first state to sign a RETA on 10 July 2024.
Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS)
The CIS is a national framework designed to bolster new renewable dispatchable capacity across Australia. This CIS tender is targeting 2,000MWh of dispatchable capacity in the Western Australia Wholesale Electricity Market (WEM CIS).
Eligible Proponents
To be eligible, interested proponents must submit projects that:
- are located in Western Australia and connect to the South West Interconnected System (as defined by the Electricity Industry Act 2004 (WA));
- have a minimum storage duration of two hours;
- have a minimum size of 30MW; and
- meet all other eligibility criteria (contained in the Tender Guidelines), including obligations with respect to social licence commitments and First Nations engagement and benefits (for further information see the Social Licence Market Briefing Note).
WEM CIS merit criteria
The WEM CIS merit criteria are:
- project deliverability and timetable (40% weighting);
- organisation capability to deliver the project (30% weighting); and
- First Nations engagement, community engagement and benefit sharing (30% weighting),
with additional consideration given to projects which demonstrate certain characteristics as outlined in the Tender Guidelines.
To learn more about how tender processes and competitive merit assessments have been run, please see our previous article: Kicking off Australia’s largest-ever renewables tender: What you need to know.
Further information is available through the AEMO Service website. The proposed structure and timeline of the tender round is set out below:
| Stage | Timing |
| Stage A Project Bid Commencement Date | 22 July 2024 |
| Stage A – Q&A process open | 22 July 2024 |
| CIS Tender 2 – WEM CIS released | 23 July 2024 |
| Registration Closing Date and Time | 12 August 2024 |
| Stage A – Project Bid Closing Date and Time | 19 August 2024 |
| Invitation to submit Stage B – Financial Value Bid | October 2024 |
| Stage B – Q&A Process opens | October 2024 |
| Stage B – Financial Value Bid Closing Date | November 2024 |
| Successful bids announced | March 2025 |
If you or your company would like further information or assistance with the tender process, please contact Matt Baumgurtel, Adriaan van der Merwe, William Ryan, or your regular Hamilton Locke New Energy Team contact.
The Hamilton Locke team advises across the energy project life cycle – from project development, grid connection, financing, construction, including the buying and selling of development and operating projects. For more information, please contact Hamilton Locke New Energy Partner Matt Baumgurtel.
