AEMO has detailed an increase in NEM capacity.

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has released its latest connection stats for the National Electricity Market (NEM), highlighting significant progress in the development of generation and storage projects. 

Over the past 12 months, the capacity of projects navigating the connection process has seen a notable increase, rising from 30 gigawatts (GW) to 43 GW. 

A key area of improvement has been in the early-stage application approvals involving both AEMO and Network Service Providers (NSPs). 

These approvals have seen a 74 per cent increase, climbing from 6.9 GW to 12 GW, while the average approval duration has decreased from 10.9 months to 9.7 months. 

According to AEMO’s Onboarding & Connections Group Manager, Margarida Pimentel, efforts to streamline the process have been crucial, achieved through “collaborating, specifically by addressing key design elements early in the process and using opportunities to split scope between the NSP and AEMO to reduce duplication of work”. 

Despite these improvements, the report also highlights delays during the ‘proponent implementation’ stage, which includes contract establishment and plant construction. 

For FY24, 75 per cent of projects completed this stage within 21 months, a significant increase from the 12 months seen in FY23. 

The delays are attributed to factors such as longer equipment lead times, refinancing issues, delayed contract execution, and limited resources.

However, progress is being made in other areas. 

Pimentel highlighted a steady increase in new package submissions for registration, growing from 1.5 GW to nearly 7 GW in the past year. 

She also noted a positive trend in commissioning times. 

“There has been a significant decrease in the time projects are taking to progress through commissioning, with 75 per cent of projects commissioned to full output within 6.9 months, compared to more than 11 months in June FY23,” she said. 

AEMO credits this improvement to new commissioning approaches informed by the Federal Government’s summer readiness program and the industry-supported Connections Reform Initiative trials.

In June FY24 alone, four projects totalling 0.72 GW received application approval, with the majority being battery projects (365 MW), followed by wind (276 MW) and solar plus battery (80 MW). 

Additionally, the Hastings Generation site, contributing 43 MW, has been registered and is now progressing towards commissioning.

While no projects reached full output in June, a total of 19 projects, amounting to 2.2 GW, have achieved full output in FY24, a slight decrease from the 3.8 GW recorded last year. 

More details are accessible here.