With the owners of Australia’s coal-fired generator fleet fast tracking the closure of the ageing infrastructure, the New South Wales government has unveiled a new corridor for transmission lines that could help it almost quadruple the size of the planned Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone.

United States independent power producer BrightNight has announced its formal entry into the Australian energy market, saying the company’s solutions could play a critical role in the nation’s continued journey towards a renewable energy future.

The merits of pre-assembled and modular solar solutions have been showcased by independent power provider Nomadic Energy which this week revealed it had taken less than 21 days to complete a 2MW install at Northern Star Resources’ Carosue Dam gold mining operation near Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.

The South Australian industrial city of Whyalla has been revealed as the preferred location for a $593 million green hydrogen project that the state opposition plans to build if it wins this month’s state election.

Construction is set to commence immediately on the first stage of a 1.2GW hybrid wind, solar and battery energy storage project in Central Queensland following Australian iron ore magnate Andrew Forrest’s announcement that he has invested $3 billion in the ‘shovel ready’ development.

Fortescue Future Industries’ plans to establish a 2GW renewable energy infrastructure-manufacturing facility and a separate 50,000 tonne green hydrogen production facility in Queensland have reached a major milestone with state-owned network operator Powerlink agreeing to connect the project sites to its transmission network.

The deployment of standalone power systems in the National Electricity Market is expected to accelerate after the Australian Energy Market Commission this week published new rules allowing distributors to install the renewables-based technology in the five market jurisdictions.

More than 3 million Australian households and small businesses have voluntarily installed rooftop solar systems but a local council in New South Wales is looking to mandate the continued rollout, investigating the potential for all new homes built in its region to be required to have solar PV panels on the roof.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has flatly opposed the bid led by tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes to buy Australia’s biggest energy company AGL and spend $20 billion switching it to renewables. This includes closing its coal power stations by 2030.

The famous Melbourne Cricket Ground is claiming an Australian first with energy retailer EnergyAustralia saying the iconic sports ground in the Victorian capital is the first major stadium in the nation to be run entirely on 100% renewable power.