Transmission network operator Transgrid has secured state government approval for a “critical” $2.28 billion electricity interconnector that will link the New South Wales and South Australian energy networks for the first time.

At midnight tonight Australia’s National Electricity Market will undergo a major regulatory change with the introduction of a market reform that has been more than four years in the making.

Spanish energy group Iberdrola has added another utility scale project to its Australian portfolio with the purchase of the 190 MW Avonlie Solar Farm in New South Wales from UK-based developer Renewable Energy Systems Group (RES).

The past week saw more records broken in the National Electricity Market (NEM), with instantaneous renewable generation hitting a record 59.8% in the afternoon of Sunday 19 September 2021, before breaking 60% for the first time on Monday 20 September 2021. Sunny weather across both days meant rooftop solar made up around half of renewable generation at this peak output, reducing operational demand and suppressing prices during the day.

The Australian-Singapore group behind a proposed 20 GW solar PV farm and 42 GWh battery energy storage project being developed in Australia’s remote far north has hinted other, similar-sized projects are already in the pipeline.

Representatives from some of Australia’s most prominent renewable energy companies have united in their criticism of the Energy Security Board’s proposal for consumers to pay conventional generators such as coal and gas power plants an extra fee for their capacity, not just the actual power they produce.

The last of the New South Wales coal-fired power plants will be shut by 2040 at the latest after electricity gen-tailer EnergyAustralia announced it would bring forward the closure date of its 1.4 GW Mt Piper power station by two years.

Australian energy utility AGL’s large-scale battery energy storage strategy has received a major boost with a 50 MW/100 MWh battery project planned for the outback city of Broken Hill getting the tick of approval from the New South Wales state government.

Mining giant Rio Tinto has confirmed Energy Developments Limited is poised to begin construction of a new solar farm and battery energy storage system that will more than triple the solar PV generation capacity at the Anglo-Australian multinational’s $2.6 billion bauxite mining operation at Weipa in far north Queensland.

The Australian Energy Regulator has filed a lawsuit against the Hornsdale Power Reserve, which is owned and operated by French renewable energy developer Neoen, alleging it failed to provide the grid security services it was paid to deliver.