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14 Apr 2025, by Amy Sarcevic
The NSW Government’s newly established investment entity, the Energy Security Corporation, is set to finance storage and firming infrastructure projects with $1 billion in seed funding. But in an increasingly dynamic market, how will it prioritise where that capital goes?
CEO Paul Peters – a speaker at this year’s Australian Renewable Energy Zones Conference – says the organisation has various interest areas, but one very clear mandate.
“In a nutshell, our mandate is to support longer-duration storage – four hours or greater in the transmission system, and upwards of two hours in the distribution system.
“As more and more renewables enter the grid, we want to keep stretching storage duration,” he said.
Addressing gaps in the market
The Corporation’s role is to fill critical financing gaps in a market that is expected to need 10.9 GW of new energy storage capacity by 2030.
“The current market tends to favour shorter-duration storage, typically batteries with less than 2 to 3 hours capacity, whereas we will invest in BESS projects upwards of that,” Peters said.
It also includes pumped hydro projects, which offer deeper and longer storage, but come with unique investment challenges.
“These 80 to 100 year assets will be instrumental in our net zero future. But their long lead times and complexity make them difficult for private investors to back without additional support. That’s where we can come in.”
At the other end of the storage portfolio, the Corporation is also interested in community batteries and smaller or distributed energy. Peters says the challenge with these assets is aggregation – bringing enough projects together to achieve economies of scale.
“We’re here to step in with capital to help these types of projects reach financial close – addressing the barriers that have kept them from progressing.
“By closing the last-mile financing gap and co-investing alongside private capital, we can unlock opportunities that wouldn’t otherwise get off the ground.”
Solving time challenges
Peters said the Corporation is prioritising shovel-ready projects.
“One of the key challenges we’re trying to solve is a time challenge,” he said. “We want to deliver certain assets over the next two 3-4 years – so projects which are approaching financial close are especially appealing to us.”
While the Corporation welcomes early-stage discussions, Peters emphasised that the Energy Security Corporation’s current focus is on opportunities that can move quickly.
Mobilising capital for impact
With flexibility to invest through either equity or debt, and with unique risk return parameters, Peters is confident the organisation will play an important role in bridging market gaps and accelerating NSW’s path to net zero.
“We can deploy capital in investment amounts ranging from $25 million to $150 million alongside other private investors.
“As a state-owned investor, we bring public sector insight with private sector understanding and investment capability. This puts us in a unique position to mobilise capital into the parts of the system that need it most,” he said.
Further insight
Talking more about the challenges and opportunities around clean energy finance, Paul Peters will participate on a panel at the upcoming Australian Renewable Energy Zone Conference.
Joining him on the panel are:
• Niall Brady, Head of Solar and Battery Storage, CEFC
• Serai Kabu, Associate Director – Renewable Energy – Pacific, WTW
This year’s event will be held 21-22 May at the Swissotel Sydney.
About Paul Peters
Paul Peters, Chief Executive Officer of the Energy Security Corporation, is an entrepreneurial founder with over 20 years of senior executive experience specialising in advisory, investment, financing and the development of renewable energy infrastructure projects.
Prior to his appointment as CEO, Mr Peters founded companies Novo Advisors, Verdia and GVP Capital, spearheading large-scale energy and infrastructure projects.
In his role as CEO, Mr Peters is delivering critical establishment efforts to ensure the Energy Security Corporation is ready to begin investing in NSW-based projects as soon as possible.
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