Demand dwarfed by four times the 8 gigawatts of capacity the nation's largest zone is planned to develop.

It is the most interest in any zone anywhere in the country to date, surpassing the Orana renewable energy zone's 27 gigawatts of interest.

For comparison, Australia's rooftop solar system boasts about 13 gigawatts of power capacity. The entire Australian energy market consumed about 58 gigawatts of power in 2019.

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Member for Northern Tablelands Adam Marshall said the overwhelming response puts the community in the happy position of being able to pick and choose between projects.

"With this level of interest, we have the luxury of supporting only the best projects that benefit the community, maintain the highest and strictest development standards and maximise local renewable jobs and investment in the region," he said.

"By co-ordinating REZ development in a strategic way, we can control our own destiny, making sure the projects we host work for our community, not just developers."

Building out the zone will require about $10.7 billion investment in the New England, the biggest business investment in the region's history.

The zone is forecast to employ about 1,250 people to build, with 830 jobs remaining to keep the power plants running for decades.

Energy Minister Matt Kean said the response showed huge investor confidence in the state's Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap.

"The overwhelming response shows this is a once in a generation opportunity to attract enormous investment into regional areas, cementing NSW's renewable energy future," he said.

The registration of interest process is the first step on the road to construction of the projects, and planning is expected to take a number of years.

The Energy Corporation of NSW will now use the information gathered through the process to inform the next stage of design for the zone. Which projects miss out will be determined through a competitive tender process. Work is now underway to run the first auctions for renewable energy projects across NSW in 2022.

The New England REZ Regional Reference Group, which first convened in April, will represent the community in the planning process.

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