Endeavour Energy welcomes the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO)’s 2026 Integrated System Plan (ISP). The ISP confirms what the distribution network, and its customers, are already proving: that homes and businesses are central to a secure, lower-cost energy future.

As the distribution network serving 2.8 million people across Greater Western Sydney, the Blue Mountains, the Illawarra, the Southern Highlands and the South Coast of NSW, Endeavour Energy said the plan supports the direction it has advocated for years, and pointed to the NSW Distribution System Plan, calling for:

  • Enabling distribution networks to drive customer outcomes. The lowest-cost, fastest part of the transition is the grid customers already own. Integrating clean energy through the existing distribution network avoids the need for expensive new infrastructure, keeping downward pressure on bills while improving reliability and choice for customers.
  • Removing bottlenecks and increasing coordination. Independent NSW-wide modelling, the joint Distribution System Plan, shows smarter use of spare capacity already in the network could unlock $2 billion to $4.3 billion in value and buy five years of breathing room on major transmission builds.
  • Harnessing storage closer to customers.  Storage in the distribution network firms renewable energy, eases constraints; gives renters and apartment dwellers access to clean energy they cannot install themselves; and keeps downward pressure on pricing for all customers.
  • Power unprecedented growth. The ISP forecasts electricity demand nearly doubling by 2050. Nowhere is that sharper than Greater Western Sydney, Australia’s fastest-growing economy. Endeavour Energy is investing ahead of growth, so the network enables this expansion rather than constraining it.

 

Endeavour Energy’s General Manager Future Grid and Asset Management, Colin Crisafulli said the ISP got the big picture right, but had more work to do in integrating the distribution level planning.

“The ISP confirms something we see on our network every day. The energy transition isn’t just happening on big transmission lines in the bush, it’s happening on suburban rooftops and in garages across Western Sydney and the Illawarra,” Colin said.

“It’s great to see that AEMO is planning the whole national system around the assumption that customers will be active participants, not passive consumers. That’s the future grid we’re building, one that turns millions of solar panels and batteries into a resource that benefits everyone.”

The company said the ISP’s focus on $6 billion of transmission investment delivering an estimated $30 billion in consumer benefits, now needed to be matched by equal attention to the distribution network that supports every customer across NSW.

“Our Distribution System Plan is the first time we have worked with peer networks, Ausgrid and Essential Energy to deliver NSW-wide view, with independent, postcode-level modelling. It shows smarter use of the existing network could unlock $2 billion to $4.3 billion in value, buy five years of breathing room on major transmission builds, and defer expensive local upgrades by up to 15 years.”

Colin said the ISP’s forecast of demand nearly doubling was already a reality on Endeavour Energy’s network: “The ISP plans for demand to nearly double nationally by 2050. We are living that now - Greater Western Sydney is Australia’s fastest-growing economy with more than 20,000 new customer connections a year, a new international airport, the first new city in Australia in 100 years, and growing industrial, and high energy user demand.”

“Our job is to invest ahead of growth so the network can enable it as efficiently as possible. Stretching the existing network through smarter coordination and building early where genuine growth demands it are two sides of the same job: keeping costs down for customers while keeping the lights on through the biggest change since electrification began,” he said.