Australia’s National Broadband Network Corporation, will be switching to 100% renewable electricity by the end of 2025, as part of the global RE100 renewable energy initiative. It is the first government business enterprise to join, according to RE100 Australia Coordinator, Jon Dee.

The 300 MW / 450 MWh Victorian big battery in Geelong has today commenced operation. In spite of fire breaking out during commissioning in July, the battery has been delivered in record time, taking less than a year to build and begin operations.

Two of Australia’s most prominent energy players, AGL Energy and Fortescue Future Industries, today announced plans to repurpose infrastructure at AGL’s Hunter Valley coal stations to turn them into green hydrogen hubs.

A consortium including Australian concentrated solar thermal power company Vast Solar has filed to patent a new tank design for thermal energy storage systems. The new design, it says, substantially mitigates the risk of tank failures which have been identified as one of the key shortcomings of the economical storage technology.

Australian hydrogen research and development company, Star Scientific, has announced its technology will be used to provide heat for industrial-scale sanitation in a pilot with Mars Food Australia.

Sydney-based solar pioneer 5B has today announced it will acquire IXL Solar’s Adelaide-based manufacturing business, with pv magazine Australia told the purchase will see 5B buy everything but the name, effective immediately.

Italian energy utility giant Enel Group has been granted a retail energy licence for Australia, with the company saying it will soon be one stop shop ‘greentailer’. Supported by its established Australian operations Enel X and Enel Green Power Australia, the new green energy retailer will first target commercial and industrial customers before expanding to residential customers.

The Victorian government has today announced it will put $5 million towards installing fast-charging stations across the state and $3 million in new charging infrastructure grants for local council and business fleets. The government also simplified access to its $3,000 electric vehicle subsidy, saying the program has led to a 200% sales increase in the last six months.

Simply Energy on Thursday announced it will be extending its Virtual Power Plant program across the eastern seaboard and opening it up to five different battery brands. Simply Energy will continue its technology partnership with SwitchDin to do so, with Ryan Wavish, Simply’s General Manager, and Andrew Mears, CEO and founder of SwitchDin, telling pv magazine Australia they plan to introduce a whole range of new, more advanced features into the VPP as the relationship between the two companies evolves.

Western Australia has today announced the launch of its $35.5 million Virtual Power Plant trial, Project Symphony, which will examine the ways in which residents, utilities, and network operators can join forces to centrally orchestrate the output of rooftop solar, batteries and other distributed resources to best serve both customers and the grid at large.