AEMO Services releases the Draft Tender Pack for LTESAs and Access Rights

What you need to know

AEMO Services, as the NSW Consumer Trustee, has released a Draft Tender Pack for the inaugural tender opening on 4 October 2022 for Long-Term Energy Service Agreements (LTESAs) and Access Rights as part of the NSW Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap.  

The materials in the Draft Tender Pack cover the initial allocation of Central-West Orana (CWO) Access Rights under the draft CWO REZ Access Scheme Declaration, published on 15 July 2022.  The approach to this tender round is likely to be similar for future tender rounds facilitated by AEMO Services. 

A link to our client alert covering the release of the draft CWO REZ Access Scheme Declaration can be found here. 

The Draft Tender Pack includes the:

• Draft Tender Rules;
• Draft Tender Guidelines;
• Draft Generation LTESA;
• Draft Long-Duration Storage LTESA; and 
• Draft Project Development Agreement.

A Final Tender Pack is expected to be released by the end of August 2022 and will be distributed to prospective proponents by email and published on the AEMO Services website. 

A copy of the Draft Tender Pack can be found here.

What you need to do

• Operators of proposed renewable energy generation projects with a generation capacity of more than 30MW located in NSW should review the draft generation LTESA and the draft project development agreement and consider the commercial terms and whether to enter a bid in the tender process. 
• Operators of proposed long-duration storage projects located in NSW should review the long-duration storage LTESA and the draft project development agreement and consider the commercial terms and whether to enter a bid in the tender process. 
• Proponents who intend to participate in the tender process for an LTESA or the project development agreement should review the Draft Tender Pack to ensure their generation or storage project meets the eligibility and merit criteria and familiarise themselves with the tender process and key dates. 

Draft Tender Pack

Draft Tender Rules

The Tender Rules provide a framework for prospective proponents on the structure and design of tender rounds, including:

• the eligibility and merit criteria used in each tender round;
• the tender and assessment process in which participants will participate;
• the procedure for making a tender bid, including the information required to be included in a bid; and
• additional details on the competitive tender process in each tender round in relation to tender fees and tender security.

A copy of the Draft Tender Rules can be found here. 

Draft Tender Guidelines

The Draft Tender Guidelines set out: 

• important dates applicable to the tender round;
• guidance to proponents on matters relating to the tender and assessment process which AEMO Services considers appropriate; and 
• general contextual information, for proponent reference and information purposes only, that AEMO Services considers relevant and appropriate.

A copy of the Draft Tender Guidelines can be found here.

Template long-form agreements

Drafts of the Generation and Long-Duration Storage LTESAs and the Project Development Agreement have been provided as between the LTES Operator and the Scheme Financial Vehicle with placeholders for project particulars. 

Projects awarded an LTESA will be required to enter into two primary contractual project documents, being the Project Development Agreement and either the Generation LTESA or the Long-Duration Storage LTESA (as applicable). A copy of the Draft Generation LTESA can be found here. A copy of the Draft LDS LTESA can be found here. 

Projects awarded an Access Right only will be required to enter into a Project Development Agreement. A copy of the Draft Project Development Agreement can be found here.

Key dates

Below are some of the key dates set out in the Draft Tender Guidelines:

Authors: Paul Curnow, Partner; Andre Dauwalder, Senior Associate; Joshua Hetzel, Associate and Lucinda Merrett, Associate.