Australia’s energy crisis affords it an intricate, if painful, look at exactly where and how our current electricity regulations no longer fit their purpose. According to analyst Gavin Dufty, now is the time to retrain our eyes on the prize: designing a new framework suitable for the future decentralised system. “But everybody needs to put their guns back in their holsters,” Dufty tells pv magazine Australia.

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) this afternoon suspended the electricity wholesale spot market in all five of the participating National Electricity Market states, saying it has become “impossible” to operate.

Western Australian developer Frontier Energy, a relatively new player in the renewable space, says preliminary findings from its green hydrogen study indicate it could be producing “significantly earlier than originally anticipated” from its Bristol Springs Solar Project, to be located south of Perth.

Sydney-based solar company Solaray Energy says its inquiries have doubled since the federal election, rebounding back to the record demand seen in 2020 ad 2021. Moreover, the company’s director and co-founder Jonathan Fisk says interest in batteries is “making solar fly,” with half of the potential new customers looking to add storage.

The Queensland government this morning confirmed it will not be changing solar feed in tariffs after Murdoch newspapers claimed a ‘sun tax’ was looming for the state. Meanwhile, New South Wales recommended upping feed in rates for solar households.

Oil and gas giant BP will take a 40.5% stake in the 26 GW Asian Renewable Energy Hub megaproject proposed for Western Australia’s north coast.

As Australia’s energy crisis deepens with Queensland and NSW again cautioned over potential blackouts in the coming hours, director of the Victoria Energy Policy Centre, Bruce Mountain, told pv magazine Australia commentators have underplayed the extent to which energy generators have exacerbated the emergency. Government intervening to take charge of the energy market is, for him, the most likely outcome as generators withholding capacity increasingly threatens to cause massive losses in state economies.

Edify Energy has completed the financing for its grid forming 150 MW / 300 MWh battery energy storage system. The system will be made up of three separate batteries in the Riverina region of NSW which have gained approval to operate in ‘virtual synchronous generator’ mode.

With over a dozen solar farms colocated with grazing sheep in Australia, results are looking positive. Graziers in New South Wales are reporting improved wool quality from the agrivoltaics trials, with some even saying they’ve had greater wool yields from running less sheep.

The newly elected South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas has today launched the market sounding for its hydrogen production facility near Whyalla, as well as the introduction of legislation to regulate hydrogen production, storage and transportation.