Distributed Storage

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.

The Western Australian Government’s Energy Transformation Taskforce has revealed its first blueprint for the isolated state’s energy system transformation over the next two decades. The blueprint, which features four separate models, sees rooftop solar and accompanying battery storage excel in the coming years, although it suggests coal-fired power will still have a large presence.

Smart Energy is one of Australia’s most creative and fastest growing solar companies, largely thanks to a compassionate business plan which came into its own since the outbreak of covid-19. The various lockdowns and increased electricity bills have driven an accelerated uptick in residential solar and Smart Energy co-founder Elliot Haynes sat down with pv magazine Australia to talk about this unprecedented period.

With folks housebound by Covid-19 restrictions and more conscious of their home energy needs, April proved a banner month for companies generating digital leads through their own accelerated transition to a new way of working.

In a move which is sure to pan out well for Granny Smith gold mine in Western Australia, Aggreko has installed one of Australia’s largest renewable energy microgrids comprising 7.7 MWp of solar energy generation which will integrate with the site’s existing power station. pv magazine sat down with Aggreko’s Managing Director of Microgrids and Storage solutions, Karim Wazni, to discuss how microgrids and energy storage can help transition Australia’s resource sector.

Solar and energy storage play an essential role in Project Gilghi, an off-grid water security innovation that has the potential to help a great many Australians, particularly Indigenous Australians, and people around the world who are struggling with poor access to potable water and sanitation.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has promised that if ACT Labor is re-elected in October, his government will invest $100 million over the next five years toward the construction of a 250 MW citywide battery network. A battery of that size is unprecedented but certainly achievable, and every Canberran can take part.

Doubling down on renewable energy investment and energy transition spending is required to ensure a truly green global recovery from the Covid-19 crisis and its economic aftershock, claims the International Renewable Energy Agency.