The federal government is confident it can deliver a pipeline of power projects to improve reliability and lower electricity prices over coming years.
Amid blackouts in Queensland, NSW and Victoria, the government's confidence was boosted by a strong response to a just-closed "registration of interest" phase of its underwriting new generation program.
The next phase, expected in the first quarter of the year, will be to run a formal "request for proposals" seeking details of proposed projects to be considered for government support.
Of the 66 submissions received by the Department of Environment and Energy, the strongest interest was in gas-fired power, while others involved coal, pumped hydro and other technologies.
"There is no shortage of willingness to invest in Australia's future energy supply," Energy Minister Angus Taylor says.
Under fire from Labor over propping up coal-fired power, he said the government would take a technology-neutral approach to generation.
The proposals are spread across the eastern states, with 26 planned in NSW, 17 in Victoria, 15 in South Australia and 12 in Queensland.
Combined, they would provide more than 29,000MW of new generation - more than half the existing capacity of the national energy market.
Government support could range from setting a floor price, to loans or small grants for minor plant upgrades.
Labor's energy spokesman Mark Butler says new coal-fired power stations should have no part in Australia's future energy mix.
He says it is a rushed process designed with politics in mind, not sensible outcomes.
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