Distributed Storage

South Australia’s Flinders University has installed 20 vehicle-to-grid (V2G) chargers to fully utilise the battery capacity of its growing electric vehicle fleet. It plans to use the distributed EV fleet to supply power to the campus grid in the evening. The initiative is supported by $350,000 (USD 220,000) of funding from the state government.

Australia’s small-scale solar and battery energy storage installation rate has remained robust in the face of a number of challenges. By virtue of this resilience, it is adding jobs and contributing the country’s decarbonisation, reports Nikhil Jayaraj, the Managing Director of Regen Power.  

New small-capacity solar power plants are being developed in Ukraine to avoid blackouts, which is helping businesses to stay afloat amid dire economic conditions.

Alsym will produce its new batteries – made of readily available materials, without lithium or cobalt – for electric vehicles, stationary storage, and marine applications.

After a bumpy start, the Victorian government’s Solar Homes Program is now in full swing, lead by strong uptake in Melbourne’s suburbs and the state’s rural north. Meanwhile, demand for batteries linked to rooftop solar has skyrocketed over the last month, spurred by the energy crisis and an especially cold winter.

A couple of weeks ago, Goldman Sachs sent shockwaves through battery metals markets, issuing a prediction that cobalt and lithium in particular were due for a sharp price decline in the next two years. But London-based Benchmark Mineral Intelligence is loudly pushing back, outlining its reasons why it believes the call on lithium was wrong. Meanwhile, US analyst Wood Mackenzie says that the battery raw material chain will remain tight, but notes that recycling could help to ease the supply deficit.

Western Australia’s regional utility Western Power has confirmed plans to install another 4,000 standalone power systems across the state in the next 10 years after reaching a milestone in the rollout of the renewable energy units.

UK scientists have compared the performance of lithium-ion storage systems and vanadium redox flow batteries for a modeled 636 kW commercial PV system in southern California. They have found that both technologies, coupled with an oversized PV array, could achieve a levelised cost of electricity of less than US$0.22/kWh (AU$0.32/kWh), while offering a self-sufficiency ratio of 0.95.

Japan’s Rinnai has unveiled what it claims is the world’s first 100% hydrogen combustion technology for residential water heaters. It is currently using the hydrogen water heater in demonstration projects in Australia, prior to commercialisation.

Scientists in the United States have developed a new model to allow utilities to use grid-forming inverters in order to better manage renewable energy intermittency. They describe the inverter main circuit representation, the droop control, and the fault current limiting function.