An ‘Australian first’ demonstration of aggregated flexible demand in residential settings will be rolled out in South Australia with the state’s principle electricity distributor to deliver smart energy upgrades for 500 households as part of a pilot program that aims to coordinate power usage to better support the grid.

This article shares some insights about curtailment for semi-scheduled solar and wind farms in the National Electricity Market and is a more in-depth follow-on to an earlier article about the issue.

Despite a rapidly evolving electric vehicle market, myths that they are unsuited to Australian roads have persisted. According to the Electric Vehicle Council, there remains a misconception that EVs are unsuited to Australian conditions due to low battery ranges, the landscape and the country’s immature EV charging infrastructure.

State-owned energy utility Synergy has awarded the construction and balance of plant contract for the 500 MW / 2,000 MWh Collie battery energy storage system being built in Western Australia’s southwest.

New data from market firm SunWiz shows Australian households and businesses installed a further 262 MW of solar on their rooftops during the month of April, pushing the year-to-date total up 7% on the corresponding time last year.

Data from international consultancy Rystad Energy shows that 82 new renewable energy generation and battery storage projects corresponding to more than 20 GW of capacity were proposed across Australia’s National Electricity Market in the first quarter of 2024, with developers largely focused on Queensland and New South Wales.

Western Australia’s rollout of solar-based standalone power systems is set to continue with the state government announcing a $26.4 million funding package to drive local manufacturing of components needed for clean energy projects.

Queensland battery tech company Li-S Energy claims to have taken a significant step towards proving the safety of its semi-solid-state lithium sulfur batteries with the third-generation technology successfully passing a series of nail penetration tests.

Victorian electricity distributor Powercor is seeking a licence to build new transmission infrastructure in a move it claims will provide faster grid connections for major projects such as solar and wind farms within its current distribution network area.

Queensland flow battery company Redflow has won a second deal with the United States Department of Defence to supply a non-lithium energy storage solution that will be deployed to improve energy security at a major naval base in Italy.