Under the scheme, the state government will offer a combination of grants and interest-free loans for solar and battery storage systems to help 1500 Queensland households and small businesses save money off their energy bills.

As 2.1 GW of new capacity – mostly wind, solar and storage – has come online in the previous year, AEMO has sourced much less additional reserves than last year to manage potential high risk scenarios that typically occur in summer. Over the next two years, the market operator expects 6 GW of new wind and solar capacity to be connected to the grid, which will alleviate the short-term risk of involuntary load shedding during summer peak periods.

The 25 MW / 50 MWh Tesla battery collocated with the 60 MW Gannawarra Solar Farm has been officially commissioned, as the second of the two grid-scale batteries that will provide support to the Victorian grid by the start of this summer. The Gannawarra project is Australia’s largest integrated solar and battery facility.

SUSI Partners AG has fully acquired and provided financing to construct a 34 MW solar PV plant with storage optionality located in Middlemount, Queensland. The investment firm says it views the Australian market as highly attractive, despite policy uncertainty.

Australian developers Energy Estate and MirusWind have proposed a massive renewable energy hub in New South Wales. The project will combine wind and solar energy generation with pumped hydro storage and other storage options to provide up to 4 GW of new clean generation.

UK-based renewable energy developer Eco Energy World has reached financial close on two Queensland projects – the 20 MW Chinchila Solar Farm and the 34 MW Brigalow Solar Farm. Combined, the projects constitute nearly $70 million in capex.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia will source 65% of its power from renewable energy by next year and will go completely green by 2030, as Australia’s first business to join 154 international companies that signed up to the global initiative RE100.

The China-headquartered battery manufacturer has joined Germany’s sonnen as an exclusive approved battery storage provider for the South Australian Home Battery Scheme. Alpha-ESS plans to set up a manufacturing facility in Adelaide, where it will build more than 8000 batteries a year and create up to 120 jobs.

The Newcastle City Council has begun construction on a 5 MW Summerhill solar farm located on a disused landfill that was once part of a coal mine.

The University of Technology of Sydney (UTS) will cover the equivalent of half of its annual electricity needs with solar power from the 32 MW Walgett Solar Farm in north-west NSW. The power purchase agreement will allow the $40 million solar project to break ground.