Energy Storage

As Australia’s home battery market begins to catch up to its install residential solar capacity the opportunity for large-scale virtual power plants is verging on reality. Indeed, Solar Service Group’s new Solar + Battery Members’ Plan could see Australia host the world’s largest virtual power plant next year.

BHP Nickel West has extended its PPA with Southern Cross Energy to 2038 as the mining giant looks to integrate renewable energy into its processes toward the goal of meeting its emissions reductions goals and producing ‘sustainable nickel’, a necessary requirement for potential client Tesla. The extended deal begins at Nickel West’s Leinster and Mount Keith operations with the development of an 18.5 MW solar farm and battery storage system.

Never heard of CEP.Energy? The new green energy fund is set to become a renewable powerhouse, installing gigawatts of solar, plus batteries big and small across industrial estates and retail centres around the NEM. Institutional investors are making this virtual-power-plant vision a reality.

Transgrid is on track to deliver improved reliability and stability to the New South Wales electricity networkafter securing federal and state government funding to install a $61.9 million big battery at its Wallgrove substation in western Sydney.

Professor Thomas Maschmeyer has taken his reimagining of zinc-bromine battery chemistry to the point of commercial launch; a new installation at the University of Sydney demonstrates the Gelion battery’s utility and appeal.

Ikea Adelaide is leading the way for the Swedish giant’s global aspirations towards 100% renewable energy through what is being touted as Australia’s largest grid-connected commercial microgrid. The two stage project boasts a range of unique features which could lay the foundations for a new sustainable energy model for Australia.

The advance of PV has been lauded by the International Energy Agency as it launched the latest edition of a flagship World Energy Outlook 2020 report overshadowed by the Covid-19 crisis and uncertainty over how long the economic recovery could take.

A group of Deakin University researchers have won a top gong at Climate Launchpad 2020 with their innovatory sodium battery which they expect to electrify Indonesia’s enormous scooter market within three years and outcompete lithium ion batteries in the near future.

The 18-meter long solar cell-clad trailer is said to enable fuel savings of 5-10% in Sweden. Swedish thin-film manufacturer Midsummer is a partner on the project.

In less than a year from today, Australia will be producing its own renewable-energy-storing lithium-ion batteries in the Hunter Region. A new $28 million Energy Renaissance facility will embed itself in the learning, hard-working, adaptable culture around the port of Newcastle, manufacturing exports that are expected to contribute some $3 billion to Australia’s GDP and advance the country’s energy transition.