ASL consults on a NSW firming tender that asks for at least eight hours of sustained delivery
Victoria Shinder1 min readAusEnergy Services Limited (ASL), which runs New South Wales' long-term energy service agreement tenders, has opened consultation on the design of a future competitive tender and a Firming Long-Term Energy Service Agreement (LTESA) product. The consultation runs from 13 October to 4 November 2026.
Why now. The process follows the 2026 Firming Infrastructure Investment Objectives (IIO) Report, which identified the firming characteristics NSW will need for future reliability: dispatchable capacity, a net energy contribution during periods of system stress, and sustained energy delivery for at least eight hours, and ideally longer.
What changes. ASL says these requirements differ from previous firming tenders, which focused on supporting a minimum of two hours of firming capacity. ASL expects fuel-based generation, including gas-fired generation, to be well placed to demonstrate the new characteristics and to make a significant contribution to NSW's future reliability needs.
How to respond. Stakeholders are asked to answer the questions in the consultation paper or upload a written response through ASL's consultation survey portal, keeping feedback aligned with those questions. Answers to questions 3–15 will be published and attributed to organisations unless they ask otherwise; questions 1 and 2 cover project information and will be kept commercial in confidence.
Source: ASL, "Firming LTESA consultation" — https://asl.org.au/tenders/firming-ltesa-consultation