The Berejiklian government has identified three priority renewable energy zones in NSW that potentially have seven times the capacity of the state's coal-fired power plants.

In a submission to the Australian Energy Markets Operation, the government said the zones, in New England, the central-west and the south-west of NSW "could unlock 77,000 megawatts of new generation capacity".

A wind turbine at Crookwell in NSW: there's huge untapped potential in the state. Credit:Andrew Taylor

The report to AEMO's Integrated System Plan is intended to demonstrate the future sources of electricity as well as to signal where additional transmission capacity will be needed.

"There is more demand for new energy sources than there are cost-effective connection points - so energy zones will allow us to bring in more capacity with economies of scale," said the NSW energy minister Don Harwin.