The number that will come to fruition within the council boundaries, however, remains unknown.
ERC chief executive officer Jack Bond said there are too many proponents for the South West REZ, and says ERC may “end up with six, but may end up with none”.
“There are 30 applications across the REZ, but there is only capacity for six to go ahead,” he said.
“There are 13 projects in the Edward River Council footprint, including battery storage projects.
“AMEO (the Australian Energy Market Operator) was meant to announce successful projects in February, but that hasn’t happened yet. Council has a meeting with EnergyCo coming up,” he said.
Mr Bond said while the decision of AMEO cannot be pre-empted, there is speculation the Yanco Delta Wind Farm may be one of the six chosen.
If it does go ahead, it triggers a $5 million funding agreement between ERC and project proponents Origin Energy.
Council has not yet determined where this money would be spent.
As Yanco Delta would span across ERC and Murrumbidgee Council, Murrumbidgee will also receive $5 million if the project goes ahead. Its share will deliver a new medical centre at Jerilderie.
Mr Bond said all renewable projects proposed come with a financial gain, which includes payments to councils to cover staffing resources of $250,000 a year for three years.
All projects also come with a community grants component, although Mr Bond said rules relating to this would need to be investigated further to ensure they adequately support the broader community.
The South West REZ takes in parts of seven local government areas - Murrumbidgee, Edward River, Murray River and the Hay, Carrathool, Balranald and Wentworth shire councils.
The only townships located in the REZ are Hay, Balranald and Buronga.
EnergyCo says the indicative location of the South West REZ was chosen following a detailed statewide geospatial mapping exercise undertaken by the NSW Government in 2018, and refined by EnergyCo in the years that have followed.
The South West REZ was chosen due to an abundance of high-quality wind and solar resources, proximity to existing and planned high voltage transmission including Project EnergyConnect, relative land-use compatibility and a strong pipeline of proposed projects.
The South West REZ has an intended network capacity of 2.5 gigawatts.
This will be delivered by the eastern section of Project EnergyConnect, HumeLink, and the NSW-side of VNI West and minor additional REZ network infrastructure.
The South West REZ is expected to receive up to $2.8 billion in private investment by 2030 and at its peak, this REZ is expected to support over 2000 construction jobs in the region.
Each of the energy projects proposed is considered to be a state significant development, which means final approval lies with the NSW Government.
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