A fire that erupted on Tuesday night in one of the Tesla Megapack 2.0 battery units of the Bouldercombe battery facility in Queensland continues to burn under the supervision of emergency services.

Queensland’s CleanCo has opened expressions of interest to renewables projects wanting to participate in the transformation of its former coal-fired Swanbank power precinct to a clean energy hub.

With the regulatory scaffolding around natural hydrogen starting to be erected across the country, the Western Australian government has confirmed it will charge a royalty on hydrogen extracted from underground geological formations, otherwise known as natural or gold hydrogen.

A major jump in small-scale air source heat pump installations has been illustrated by the Clean Energy Regulator’s latest Carbon Market Report. Australia’s large-scale renewables segment, however, is languishing with the Regulator knocking its 2023 final investment decision (FID) forecasts down from 3.5 GW to 2.5 GW. Just a 0.5 GW has reach FID in 2023 so far.

Chinese company GoodWe will now be offering specialised carport solar panels to the Australian market, which it says are designed to overcome issues around water drainage and wiring.

Australia’s National Reconstruction Fund is up and running, with the federal government transferring the first $5 billion (USD 3.26 billion). The fund has already received around 100 proposals, with climate ventures and advanced technology reportedly dominating.

Mytilineos’ 75 MW Wyalong Solar Farm in the New South Wales Riverina region has now begun feeding into the grid, with almost two thirds of its generation contracted to NBN Australia, the national broadband network.

Startup accelerator EnergyLab is showcasing its 2023 cohort of promising climate tech startups this morning. Ahead of the launch, pv magazine Australia caught up with participants Energy Synapse and PowerPlay.

UNSW researchers have found a new approach to photochemical upconversion, which involves converting low light particles into higher-energy light particles. The discovery has potential to unlock innovations in renewable energy, particularly solar, with the team flagging it could raise the efficiency limit of solar devices from 33.7% to 40% or beyond.

Brisbane-based flow battery company, Redflow, has inked $4.4 million a deal with the US Department of Defence to deliver a prototype microgrid at a New York state airbase, with up to 1.4 MWh of zinc-bromide battery storage.