microgrid

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.

The benefits of microgrid technologies will be explored by the Queensland government as it seeks to improve the resilience and reliability of electricity supply for remote and regional communities with an initial $10 million (USD 6.8 million) allocated to support the development of a pipeline of microgrid projects across the state.

Australian miner Core Lithium has made the transition to lithium producer with 15,000 tonnes of unprocessed ore from its Finniss mine in the Northern Territory now heading to China where it will be converted into materials for the global renewable energy storage and electric vehicle markets.

Construction has officially commenced on Western Australia’s first pumped hydro project but the state government has indicated it won’t be the last, hinting that the 1.5 MW renewables microgrid being built at Walpole could serve as a blueprint for the roll out of similar projects both nationally and overseas.

A holiday house in New South Wales is thought to be the first residential property in Australia to make the switch to a hybrid solar and green hydrogen standalone power system with network service provider Essential Energy trialling the off-grid technology.

Resource-sector heavyweight Rio Tinto is planning to invest $600 million (USD 402 million) building two new solar farms and battery energy storage systems in the Pilbara region of Western Australia as part of the company’s efforts to decarbonise its iron ore operations.

One of Australia’s largest rooftop solar arrays will be energised this week with CleanPeak Energy announcing the second phase of a 5 MW PV system at the Tonsley Innovation District in Adelaide is set to be switched on in the coming days.

Australia’s first hybrid solar and renewable hydrogen microgrid has officially launched as green hydrogen production began at Horizon Power’s demonstration plant in the coastal community of Denham in Western Australia’s Gascoyne region.

Speakers at the CEC All-Energy conference in Melbourne have prioritised the built environment as ripe for embedding higher efficiency and sustainability standards.