Employment

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese insists Australia is “on track” to become a global renewable hydrogen superpower despite mining billionaire and green hydrogen advocate Andrew Forrest signalling a major slowdown of Fortescue’s ambitions.

The Queensland government has broken ground on the $5 billion CopperString transmission line project that is to stretch across the state’s north, connecting the region to the national grid and helping to unlock an estimated 6 GW of renewable energy resources.

Australian flow battery specialist Redflow has struck a partnership with Queensland state-owned generation company Stanwell to work together on the development of a non-lithium long-duration battery energy storage solution for use in a 400 MWh project.

Australian EPC contractor ACLE Services has broken ground on a 5 MW / 10 MWh battery energy storage project in northern Victoria that is the first in a planned pipeline of 27 batteries that will be rolled out across regional Australia delivering a combined capacity of 270 MWh.

Western Australia is on track to become home to the nation’s first clean energy training centre of excellence with the state and federal governments investing $70.5 million over five years to address labour shortages in Australia’s renewable energy transition.

The Queensland state budget will deliver the nation’s largest yet green energy investment with a record $26 billion outlay over the next four years, with $8.6 billion ready to go in the next financial year.

A team of researchers from the University of Queensland has detailed five key recommendations needed to accelerate Australia’s transition to electric vehicles and ready the country’s infrastructure for an ‘influx’ of EVs.

Spending on building renewable energy infrastructure is forecast to peak at $20 billion in 2026, stimulated by the Australian government’s target of 82% electricity from renewables by 2030, but caution remains over workforce capability.

The federal and state governments are stepping up their investments as they seek to deliver the army of skilled workers required to build the solar and wind farms, rooftop solar, battery storage and transmission infrastructure needed to achieve Australia’s renewable energy and emissions targets.

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.