Regional businesses across NSW continue to have significant opportunities to get involved with one of 5 Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) projects across the state. These zones will harness wind and solar resources to keep the lights on and deliver clean, affordable and reliable electricity.
A NSW Government statutory authority, EnergyCo, is leading the development of the REZs: the Central-West Orana REZ, New England REZ, South West REZ, Hunter-Central Coast REZ and Illawarra REZ.
“With Australia’s coal power stations reaching the end of their life, renewable energy is essential to keeping the lights on,” EnergyCo Senior Project Officer, Regional Development, Robbie Hayman-Mitchell said.
“Our main focus is energy security, and building long term economic sustainability across the local supply chain.”
Working with Industry Capability Network NSW (ICN NSW), EnergyCo intends to maximise opportunities for local businesses, both in the short and long term.
Through strategic partnerships and early engagement, both organisations are committed to driving regional economic growth, empowering local communities and ensuring local businesses are well-placed to benefit from the REZ projects.
The ICN Gateway has been advertising EOIs and listing individual work packages since the collaboration began, and recently launched a dedicated Renewable Energy Zones page, providing a centralised hub where buyers and suppliers can connect.
“As the REZs are getting constructed, the main vision of the dedicated REZ page is to promote opportunities within those regions and help local businesses stay informed about tenders and upcoming contracts.” Robbie said.
“We want to leave a lasting legacy, creating ongoing employment and opportunities for local businesses and workers that continue well beyond the construction phase.”
EnergyCo is also working with ICN to support and engage local suppliers through:
• business briefings and workshops to boost awareness of procurement opportunities
• supplier assessments to verify and filter local business capabilities
• promote work packages within REZ projects to ensure local businesses can access tenders and contracts
• support diversity, inclusion, and local supply chain participation.
While each REZ is unique in its approach to local supplier content, all EnergyCo projects are bound by NSW Government policies including the Infrastructure Skills Legacy Program and Aboriginal Procurement Policy.
This flexible approach allows proponents to achieve targets through different methods, but with consistent underlying goals of supporting local businesses, creating regional employment and building long-term economic sustainability. These obligations are not strictly mandated fixed percentages, but rather collaborative commitments between government, proponents and local businesses.
Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone
The Central West-Orana REZ is the most advanced in the state, with the project now in the delivery phase.
EnergyCo appointed ACEREZ, a partnership of ACCIONA, COBRA and Endeavour Energy, to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the REZ transmission network.
The Central-West Orana REZ is expected to attract up to $25 billion dollars in private investment.
It is forecast to support an annual average of about 1,850 direct jobs in the local area during construction, and about 930 ongoing operational jobs from 2034.
Since July 2024, ACEREZ has participated in 19 industry briefings across 6 towns, with almost 500 people attending.
“These workshops targeted small to medium enterprises and Aboriginal-owned businesses seeking to craft concise capability statements for tender submissions and business introductions,” ACEREZ Workforce Development and Training Manager Sonja Malcolm said.
“Participants were provided with tailored templates and practical tools to support the development of their statements and received individualised feedback on draft versions following the sessions.”
From May to October 2025, 75 new businesses registered their interest in the Central-West Orana REZ, with 80 Expressions of Interest (EOIs) against 7 work packages.
That makes a total of 1359 EOIs against 137 work packages.
As of September 2025, 157 packages have been awarded, with 124 of these going to Australian businesses.
“Awarded contracts include camp design and construction, office and amenities installation, earth works, PPE, cleaning services, camp operations, concrete supply and concrete batch establishment,” Sonja said.
Over the next three to six months, ACEREZ is expected to list more work packages and provide further opportunities on the ICN gateway including:
• occupational hygiene testing
• emergency equipment supply and maintenance
• cable ladders and trays supply
• lightning protection masts
• low voltage and fibre optic cabling and lighting installation and testing
• medium voltage and low voltage reticulation
• aviation warning lights and markers supply
• design and construction of the Mudgee maintenance facility.
Hunter-Central Coast REZ and New England REZ
EnergyCo is planning four major energy projects for the Hunter and New England areas:
• The Hunter Transmission Project will carry electricity from the inland REZ projects to other parts of the state. It is one of the state’s most critical energy infrastructure projects.
• The Hunter-Central Coast REZ Network Infrastructure Project will unlock 1 gigawatt of network capacity for new generation and storage projects. This will be the first REZ in Australia to upgrade existing distribution poles and wires – an approach that minimises impacts on surrounding communities and on the environment.
• The Waratah Super Battery Project is nearing full commission and will act as a shock absorber for the grid during events like lightning strikes.
• The New England Renewable Energy Zone Network Infrastructure Project includes a new transmission line that will run through the Upper Hunter carrying electricity from the New England region through the Hunter to the rest of the state.
EnergyCo will also deliver infrastructure projects such as road upgrades and logistics.
• The Port to Renewable Energy Zones road upgrades program will support the transport of large equipment to inlan REZs.
• The Newcastle Logistics Precinct will provide additional storage at the Port of Newcastle for renewable energy developments.
According to Walter Mansfield, EnergyCo’s Senior Advisor Regional Coordination, the Hunter-Central Coast region is relatively small compared to other REZs, it is critical to delivering projects state-wide.
“Alongside the Waratah Super Battery, the Hunter-Central Coast REZ projects are essentially an upgrade of the existing distribution network infrastructure. It will be delivered by Ausgrid, with construction due to start early next year, once the formal deed has been signed,” Walter said.
The Hunter Transmission Project is a partnership between EnergyCo and Transgrid to build a new transmission line that will provide the backbone of the state’s electricity grid for generations to come.
“Newcastle Logistics Precinct and the Port to REZ programs are focused on improving the capability of the road infrastructure and logistics ecosystem to support the import and movement of renewable energy componentry from Port of Newcastle to the Central Western-Orana and New England REZs, which will be the big hitters in terms of energy generation.”
To engage local suppliers, and gauge local interest and capability, the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) held a pilot series of workshops across the region earlier this year.
“NSW DPIRD has a Regional Economic Development team with economic development experts on the ground all around NSW who’ve been supporting the rollout of the renewable energy zones from a supply chain perspective,” Walter said.
The success of the pilot program has led to an agreement between EnergyCo and NSW DPIRD to expand the program into a new series called Ready for Renewables – Business Workshops. The structure of the workshops is to inform and to upskill. Informing the local supply chain of the projects, available work-packages and delivery timeframes and backing this up with an upskilling component to deliver hands-on activities to upskill businesses on preparing professional tenders and quotes.
EnergyCo is also collaborating closely with ICN NSW on delivery of these workshops to leverage the ICN Gateway and its dedicated REZ page.
South West REZ
The South West REZ has several projects in various stages of planning and approval, with construction expected to begin by late 2026/early 2027:
• Dinawan Energy Hub
• Pottinger Energy Park
• Yanco Delta Wind Farm
• Bullawah Wind Farm
TransGrid is also currently delivering Project Energy Connect and is planning the Victoria-NSW Interconnector West transmission line.
EnergyCo, in partnership with the DPIRD, is set to host a series of industry training and briefing events in 2026, aimed at supporting local businesses to participate in South West REZ procurement opportunities.
Following the successful inaugural South West REZ Roadshow in May that attracted more than 200 local businesses, the upcoming events promise to be a crucial networking platform for regional suppliers.
"We wanted to provide an opportunity for networking with both developers and major contractors, but also between local businesses as well," EnergyCo’s Manager for Regional Coordination, South West REZ, Matilda Hartwig, said.
The briefings and training workshops will target a diverse range of businesses, from machinery hire to steel providers, hospitality and cleaning services to construction and engineering firms.
A key focus of the events will be providing direct access to procurement teams and offering critical training. The workshops will include training to support local businesses, to ensure that they have the requisite knowledge and capacity to deliver and tender for these projects.
“With projects expected to commence construction by late 2026/early 2027, these events and training workshops present a critical early engagement opportunity,” Matilda said.
“The workshops will help businesses understand procurement processes, learn about sustainability requirements, and potentially form collaborative partnerships. We really want to provide that opportunity for networking with both the developer but also the major contractors. Getting the developers and major contractors down to the South West REZ early and often is important.”
These events also offer an opportunity for local businesses to network with each other and potentially identify partnership opportunities.
"A single local company might not necessarily have all the services required for a package of work, but there may be opportunities for local businesses to partner up to provide a larger service offering that could take on a package,” Matilda said.
To find out when industry events and training will be held, visit the South West REZ page and sign up to the newsletter.
For more information or to express interest in the opportunities available, visit the REZ and Priority Transmission Infrastructure projects topic page.