WA design paper – Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS)

The Clean Energy Council considers there could be a risk of misalignment of the WA Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) and Reserve Capacity Mechanism (RCM) process, through project delays or reductions / cancellation of capacity credits for a CIS Agreement (CISA) project. To ensure alignment, we recommend consideration of processes such as the expedited assessment of CISA projects as critical projects and / or the early certification of reserve capacity being automatically granted (on a conditional basis) when the CISA contract is awarded. Further detail is needed on how delays in the commercialisation of a project will be dealt with. Consideration should be given to permitting projects to operate in the wholesale electricity market (WEM) until they can participate in the RCM. We recommend that eligibility criteria be reviewed to include projects with NCESS contracts and to ensure VPPs using DER resources are included in the second and third rounds of clean dispatchable tenders. In relation to projects which do not qualify for a CISA, we request the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) give consideration as to how those projects will be impacted by the WA CIS and release any modelling on the proposed WA CIS’s impact on capacity market and energy markets in the South West Interconnected System (SWIS).