Queensland government-owned utility CS Energy has announced plans to build a 100MW/200MWh battery near Chinchilla on the Western Downs with the state government identifying large-scale energy storage as fundamental in the state’s energy transition.

Retail giants Kmart, Bunnings, Target and Officeworks have signed a long-term power purchase agreement with Queensland government-owned generator CleanCo to provide the retailers with 100% renewable electricity at their sites across the state.

A new report published by U.K.-based energy think tank Ember shows that solar PV was the world’s fastest rising source of electricity generation in 2021 and Australia leads the world in its uptake with solar generating 12% of the nation’s electricity last year.

The world’s largest solar PV and battery energy storage project has locked in renewed political support with the Northern Territory government confirming it will introduce special legislation into parliament this week that will facilitate the development of the giga-scale Australia-Asia PowerLink project.

Researchers from The University of Queensland have developed a new nanotechnology that they say more than doubles the lifespan of high-voltage lithium-ion batteries, paving the way for higher density and lower-cost energy storage solutions.

South Australia had a notable wind generation rate during the final quarter of 2021 with ~569MW of average wind generation, accounting for ~57% of total average generation of the state and it is still going strong in this quarter.

The New South Wales Government has outlined plans for another coordinated renewable energy zone which will deliver at least 2.5GW of new network capacity as the state’s transitions from fossil fuels towards renewable power accelerates.

The National Electricity Market has always been a place of big data and high levels of automation, and the recent developments in the trading space are the next stage of that maturing.

The Australian arm of U.K.-based global fund manager Octopus Group and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation have added another renewable energy project to their joint venture’s portfolio, announcing they will work with the founders of the Blind Creek Solar Farm near Bungendore in regional New South Wales to deliver the 300MW agri-solar and battery project.

Electricity distributor Endeavour Energy has announced plans to deploy a solar-powered community microgrid featuring 3MW/3.5MWh of battery energy storage in a bid to improve the resilience and reliability of electricity supply for regional communities on the New South Wales South Coast.