A multibillion-dollar pipeline of electricity transmission upgrades is being proposed by South Australia’s network operator ElectraNet as it seeks to keep pace with “unprecedented” levels of connection demand.

Australian solar and thermal energy storage company RayGen says it has achieved a major international milestone with the commissioning of a 1 MW integrated solar electricity and hydro energy storage plant in Brazil.

Most Australians now understand the basic promise of rooftop solar: lower power bills, cleaner electricity and, for some households, the option to charge an electric vehicle at home for far less than the cost of petrol. But that promise was built around a particular kind of housing – the detached house with a privately controlled roof, a private meter board and a driveway or garage where the owner can install whatever equipment they need.

Sydney-headquartered start-up WinDC has partnered with United States-based Armada in a move designed to address rising levels of utility-scale solar and wind curtailment in Australia and also satisfy ballooning demand for energy-intensive data centre infrastructure.

New South Wales transmission company Transgrid has shortlisted nine battery energy storage projects with a combined capacity of 2 GW to provide essential system strength services to the state’s electricity grid from later this year.

As part of its regular update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that Australia’s wettest February in 15 years produced solar irradiance deficits of 15–30% across the country’s central and eastern regions.

Australia’s national science agency says AI-driven robots could reshape solar maintenance across large-scale PV projects after successfully trialing the cutting-edge technology.

Mining giant Rio Tinto will underwrite $7.5 billion of investment in new renewable energy generation and storage in Queensland after inking a deal with the federal and state governments to secure a long-term future for one of Australia’s largest aluminium smelters.

Australia and New Zealand’s electricity networks are entering a new phase of the energy transition. For more than a decade the focus has been on building renewable generation and connecting it to the grid. That effort continues, and it will remain essential. But for many network operators the harder task now lies elsewhere: managing how an increasingly complex system works together.

Spanish energy company Iberdrola’s plan to develop a 270 MW / 1,080 MWh battery energy storage system in northern New South Wales has received a boost with the state’s Independent Planning Commission giving its tick of approval.