MEDIA RELEASE
27th June 2025
NSW budget papers confirm a forecast energy supply gap in 2027-28, unless renewable energy construction speeds up.[1]
“We’re calling on the NSW government to urgently commit to resolving this energy security gap,” said Jacqui Mumford, CEO of the Nature Conservation Council of NSW.
“NSW should be covering every warehouse roof with solar panels, and encouraging investors to put everything into the renewable energy build out.
“By ramping up delivery of energy projects over the next two years, NSW can ensure energy security, deliver price relief, and rescue its legislated climate targets,” she continued.
The States of Transition report released this week, which was commissioned by conservation councils around the country, found NSW has sufficient renewable energy project proposals in the pipeline to meet energy requirements 2.5 times over, but many projects are not progressing to completion.
Reasons for projects languishing include the investment environment, planning system challenges, lack of grid access, and community concern over local impacts of renewable energy.
Recent breakdowns have also highlighted the decreasing reliability of aging coal-fired generators, with wholesale energy prices in NSW tripling during breakdowns.
Quotes attributable to Jacqui Mumford, CEO of the Nature Conservation Council of NSW:
“NSW met 37% of its energy needs from renewable energy in 2024, compared with 41% in Victoria. With our great solar and wind resources, NSW should be leading the pack, not lagging other states”.
“Getting off coal and gas and scaling up renewable energy will give nature and our climate a fighting chance."
“If the NSW government wants to ensure cheap and reliability renewable electricity for the people of NSW, they must shore up a plan to stagger closure of our remaining coal fired power plants. When these ageing, unreliable coal power stations breakdown, energy prices in NSW almost triple”.
“With the right planning, renewable energy projects can give nature and the climate a fighting chance. Biodiversity hotspots must be off limits for any form of development, and we need to throw everything into restoring and connecting habitat as we roll out renewable energy.”
ENDS
Media contact: Madeline Hayman-Reber
E: [email protected] M: 0404 935 157
Note: Spokespeople are available for comment on request
Background
[1] 2025-26 NSW Budget Paper 02, page 9-4 states “The 2024 Energy Security Target shows NSW levels being sufficient until a shortfall of 488 megawatts in 2027-28 (Chart 9.4)."
The budget paper highlights the Capacity Investment Scheme Tender 3 and the 2034 long-duration storage minimum target as mechanisms to resolve reliability gaps, however these schemes are not planned to be delivered until 2029 and 2034 respectively.