What is the Capacity Investment Scheme?
What is the Capacity Investment Scheme?
The Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) is an Australian Government initiative that aims to encourage investment in new energy generation, such as wind and solar, and dispatchable capacity, such as battery storage.
About the CIS

Through the CIS, the Australian Government seeks to deliver a target of 32 GW of new capacity nationally, made up of:

  • 23 GW of renewable generation
  • 9 GW of dispatchable capacity (4-hour equivalent)

CIS auctions for both generation and dispatchable capacity projects are expected to be held approximately every 6 – months in the NEM (National Electricity Market) and around every 12 months in the WEM (Wholesale Electricity Market) until 2027.

This additional capacity is expected to:

  • Help deliver the Australian Government’s 82% renewable electricity by 2030 target.
  • Contribute to filling expected reliability gaps as ageing coal-fired power stations retire and electricity demand grows.
  • Place downward pressure on electricity prices.
Renewable Energy Transformation Agreement (RETA) allocations

Renewable Energy Transformation Agreements (RETAs) are agreements between the Australian government and state and territory governments (jurisdictions). These agreements assist in achieving shared objectives in the renewable energy transformation.

The Australian Government has released a RETA Market Brief. The brief provides information on CIS capacity allocations to jurisdictions, as agreed through RETA negotiations. 

 

Learn more about RETAs
AEMO Service’s role in delivering CIS Tenders

AEMO and AEMO Services are engaged to support the roll-out of the CIS as tender delivery partner, bringing together our expertise in energy market design, management and tender procurement.

We administer the competitive tender process, including recommending bids to the Australian Government. The Minister for Climate Change and Energy is the ultimate decision-maker.

CIS tenders follow a merit-based two stage application and assessment process, including a strong weighting on community and First Nations engagement and social licence commitments, deliverability and benefit to system reliability.

Additional due diligence is also undertaken on potential projects ahead of them being recommended to the Australian Government.

Learn more about AEMO Service's role in the CIS tender delivery
Additional information for proponents

Each CIS Tender has different requirements.

Prospective proponents considering participating in a CIS tender should read the tender documents located on the relevant CIS Tender page. You can find a list of our CIS tenders here.

The Tender Guidelines are a comprehensive resource containing the necessary information for proponents to participate.

Reading additional information from previous tenders including Market Briefs on merit criteria requirements and tender assessment outcomes, can also assist proponents.

We strongly encourage proponents who have been unsuccessful in previous tenders to reapply for future CIS tenders. The information provided in the briefs linked below may help improve future bids.

Additional guidance
CIS NEM Dispatchable Capacity tenders

CIS SA-VIC Tender

CIS Tender 3 – NEM Dispatchable

  • First Nations and Social Licence Market Brief – This brief provides additional information to assist proponents in preparing quality Bids that address the First Nations and Social Licence Criteria, being Merit Criterion 4, Merit Criterion 5, Merit Criterion 8 and Merit Criterion 9.
Additional guidance
CIS NEM Generation tenders

CIS Tender 1 – NEM Generation

Additional guidance
CIS WEM Dispatchable Capacity tenders

CIS Tender 2 – WEM Dispatchable

View our tenders to learn more about past and current CIS tenders.

To ensure you don’t miss any Tender specific announcements, updates or information, please submit the subscription form below to receive AEMO Service’s Tender updates.

For non-tender specific information on the CIS including sector news and policy updates, visit the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.