Australia's state of New South Wales (NSW) has issued plans to invest AUD2.6bn (US$1.9bn) to develop additional transmission capacity and to accelerate the development of wind and solar power projects. This announcement comes as the development of renewable renewable energy projects is stumbling upon congestion on transmission networks, making it hard to secure customers and slowing their financing procedures.
The state currently has AUD27bn (US$19.5bn) worth of solar and wind projects totalling 20 GW of capacity in the project pipeline. The current transmission capacity can only accommodate 1 GW of additional renewable capacity and the state transmission operator (TSO) Transgrid will speed up planning and feasibility works on four power transmission projects required to come online between 2022 and 2024 to boost connections between NSW and the neighbouring states of Queensland, Victoria and South Australia.
Australia's power grid is currently more geared transmitting power from coal-fired power plants, while new solar and wind power projects are usually being built in outlying areas with low transmission capacity. Their development also implies the improvement of grid connections in order to avert potential blackouts.