Distributed Storage

The New South Wales Labor Party plans to tip in $1 billion (USD 690 million) to create a state-owned energy corporation which will partner with the private sector to accelerate investment in pumped hydro, community batteries and renewables to support the state’s energy transition.

The New South Wales government has announced an $8 million (USD 5.5 million) pilot program which will support the entire electrification of three communities across the state. It is anticipated the initiative will include the deployment of solar, batteries and local electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Western Australia’s regional utility Horizon Power has installed a battery system in Exmouth on the state’s northern coast, unlocking 2 MW of solar hosting capacity. The installation is one of nine batteries being installed by the utility across the state and is arguably a more effective rendition of a “community battery.”

Enerpoly produces low-cost, low-maintenance zinc-ion battery storage systems for durations of two to 10 hours. The Swedish battery specialist now plans to develop prototypes of a residential plug-in storage system with rechargeable zinc batteries in Europe, under an EU-funded collaborative project with Austrian startup EET.

A surge of community battery trials in Australia is seeking to make better use of the country’s vast distributed solar resource. But the results so far have battered expectations. pv magazine Australia’s Natalie Filatoff and Bella Peacock explore the motivations, challenges, and outlook for sharing and monetising solar rooftop riches.

Network operator Essential Energy has installed its first grid-scale battery energy storage system on the New South Wales electricity network as part of a “critical” trial designed to allow more renewable energy into the grid and drive better network utilisation.

Rooftop solar stronghold Western Australia has been offered a glimpse of its energy future with the market operator having activated its first virtual power plant to prevent household blackouts after heatwave conditions sparked concern for the state’s main energy grid.

The federal government has opened industry consultations seeking to inform the country’s first national battery strategy with the goal of developing a globally competitive domestic battery manufacturing ecosystem in Australia.

Queensland government-owned network provider Energex will partner with Australia’s largest energy retailer Origin Energy to deploy 35 neighbourhood batteries across the city of Ipswich as part of an $10 million (USD 7.1 million) initiative designed to better manage the increasing penetration of rooftop solar PV in the region.

A new code for retailers of ‘new energy tech’ products including rooftop solar, battery energy storage systems, electrical vehicle chargers and other emerging energy products and services has been introduced to raise consumer protection standards in Australia.