A major project featuring 120 MW wind and 50 MW solar PV in Western Australia has secured all state and federal approvals and is scheduled to start construction later this year. An energy storage facility is to be included at a later stage.

Commercial electricity retailer Flow Power has signed an offtake deal with Germany’s BayWa r.e. for 48 MW of clean electricity generated at two of northern Victoria’s largest solar farms – the 112 MW Karadoc Solar Farm and 106 MW Yatpool Solar Farm.

Queensland is in line for its first community-scale battery to be installed on Townsville’s outskirts because of the high number of rooftop solar systems and close proximity to electricity infrastructure. The energy storage system should be operating by the end of the year.

As scorching heatwave drove up air conditioning power demand, faults at coal-fired power plants were directly responsible for blackouts across Victoria and South Australia. Extreme weather is debunking arguments for new fossil fuel generation, and signaling Australia’s energy security lies in renewables.

The South Australian government has released an update on the energy storage uptake under the nation’s biggest home battery rebate scheme. With a total of 101 batteries already installed and more than 500 households now in line for installation, a further influx of applications is expected as public awareness builds.

Japanese industrial giant Sumitomo Corporation has fully acquired Infinite Energy, Western Australia’s solar installer and electricity retailer, thus expanding on its local coal-focused portfolio.

Over 70,000 Australian households will install battery storage in 2019, according to the Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). With the nation’s storage demand set to triple, Australia is forecast to make up 30% of global demand this year.

As part of a scientific research focusing on agriculture on exhausted mining areas, a seed cleaning shed on Christmas Island is being powered by solar+storage. The switch from polluting diesel has not only brought a low maintenance, silent and environmentally friendly solution to this remote location, but also lowered operational costs nearly fivefold.

Having welcomed Sol Distribution on board, Norwegian solar manufacturer REC Group hopes to expand its presence in Australia, which it sees as its key market in the APAC region.

German discount supermarket chain Aldi is set to roll out solar PV across 30 stores and distribution centers in New South Wales and Queensland. Netherlands-based renewables developer Photon Energy will deliver the rooftop PV arrays.