Australia’s electricity generation and storage capacity must triple by 2050 to meet demand, according to a draft report released Wednesday by the Australian Energy Market Operator.
The 2026 Integrated System Plan projects capacity will rise from 92 gigawatts (GW) today to 190 GW in 2035 and 297 GW in 2050. Grid‑scale wind and solar are expected to expand five‑fold, from 23 GW to 120 GW, while storage capacity — including batteries, virtual power plants and pumped hydro — will grow from 12 GW to 55 GW. Distributed solar, such as rooftop systems, is forecast to increase from 25 GW to 87 GW.
The plan calls for about 6,000 kilometers of new transmission lines by 2050, a 13.6 percent expansion of the current network. Annualized capital costs for generation, storage, transmission and distribution are estimated at 128 billion Australian dollars ($85 billion) under the least‑cost pathway.
Transmission investments of around 9 billion Australian dollars would save consumers an additional 22 billion in avoided costs and deliver emissions reductions valued at 2 billion, the report said.
Coal‑fired generation capacity is projected to fall from 21 GW today to 7 GW in 2035 and reach zero by 2050.