Western Australian miner IGO is building upon its renewable energy options at its Nova nickel operation after signing an agreement with Perth-based energy storage company VSUN Energy to trial a hybrid standalone power system backed by a vanadium redox flow battery.

Australia’s first coordinated renewable energy zone is to be built in the New South Wales central west with the state government revealing the Central-West Orana REZ, which will deliver at least 3 GW of renewable energy into the grid, has been formally declared.

Federal government plans to expand the mandate of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation so it can invest in carbon capture and storage technology have been criticised as “yet another attempt to prop up Australia’s thermal coal industry, at the expense of renewables”.

The first week of the United Nations climate talks in Glasgow are drawing to a close. While there’s still a way to go, progress so far gives some hope the Paris climate agreement struck six years ago is working.

The Australian Government has set a goal of producing solar electricity for a third of today’s costs, declaring that “ultra low-cost solar” will be critical to achieving its long-term emissions reduction plan.

Australian energy storage company Redback Technologies has unveiled an expanded product range, adding a series of grid-tied solar inverters and new beefed-up battery products to its existing line of modular battery energy storage systems for residential and commercial customers.

Dutch renewables company Photon Energy has announced it will build “the world’s largest” solar-plus-storage project to date, teaming with Australian technology provider and project developer RayGen Resources to develop a facility that will deliver 300 MW of solar generation and 3.6 GWh of energy storage.

South Australia’s plan to establish a world-leading green hydrogen industry has received a major boost with the state government confirming it has received “tens of billions” of dollars of proposed investments from both Australian and international “heavy-hitters” as it looks to transform land at Port Bonython into a multi-user export-focused precinct.

The Australian mining industry’s transition towards renewable-powered operations continues with Pilbara Minerals appointing Contract Power Australia to install and operate a 6 MW solar farm at its Pilgangoora Lithium Project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

Brett Redman, the former CEO of Australian energy utility AGL has been named as the new chief executive officer at electricity network operator Transgrid.