The federal government announced the winners of Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) Tenders 5 and 6 on 2 May 2026. The two tender rounds were focused on delivering new capacity for the WEM, and awarded ten Western Australian projects: 1,886 MW of new renewable generation under Tender 5, and 482 MW / 3,683 MWh of dispatchable storage under Tender 6. It marks the largest single day of federal capacity support the WEM has ever seen.

Two of the ten projects are solar-plus-battery hybrids. One sits in Tender 5, one in Tender 6, and they take very different shapes.

Key takeaways

• The two rounds together contracted 2.37 GW of power capacity and 5.78 GWh of battery energy storage across ten WA projects.
• Tender 5 awarded 1,886 MW of generation against a 1,600 MW target. This includes 1,536 MW of new wind across six farms and a 350 MW solar PV component bundled into the Killawarra hybrid.
• Tender 6 awarded 482 MW / 3,683 MWh of standalone batteries against a 2,400 MWh target. All three winners are seven to eight hour systems.
• WA's federal CIS-backed pipeline now stands at roughly 3.4 GW, more than five times its size before this announcement.

What projects won in CIS Tenders 5 and 6?

What was the breakdown between the two tender rounds?

Tender 5: 1.9 GW of new generation, led by the Killawarra hybrid

Killawarra is the standout project in the WA Tender 5 generation round. The hybrid pairs 350 MW of solar PV with 2,100 MWh of battery energy storage near Kadathinni in the Mid West, around 25 kilometres south-west of Three Springs. If the BESS power matches the solar, that implies a six-hour duration.

Trina Solar is best known as a global solar PV and, more recently, BESS manufacturer. Killawarra is Trina's first own-developed utility-scale project in Australia and one of its largest globally outside China.