Lack of transparency is the Capacity Investment Scheme’s biggest flaw

Friday 21 August 2026

The Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) was meant to accelerate wind, solar and battery investment by using taxpayer subsidies to underwrite revenue.

Instead, only 14 of 89 supported projects have reached final investment decision (FID), and only one wind project has begun construction. Investors have also warned that more than half of early‑round winners might never be built.

The Australian Energy Regulator’s (AER) annual report on the National Electricity Market also warned that the CIS has resulted in the completion of just 214 megawatts of taxpayer-supported renewables capacity to date.

The full text of this article is available to MacroBusiness subscribers

$1 for your first month, then:

$24.99 / month

$249 / year

Cancel at any time through our billing provider, Stripe

About the author

Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.