Biden-Sanders task force calls for 500m solar panels in five years
A wide-ranging joint report published by the Democratic presidential candidate and his former rival includes the section: ‘Undoing the harms of the Trump administration and righting the wrongs.’
Turning the Top End toward hydrogen production
The Northern Territory is an energy powerhouse, pulsing with oil and gas expertise, LNG processing plants and a burgeoning solar scene. The government’s new Renewable Hydrogen Strategy seeks to leverage such skill sets and infrastructure towards a green-hydrogen industry and net-zero emissions by 2050…
NT sets net-zero climate target, joining other states and territories in ‘de facto national net-zero target’
The Northern Territory Government has released its Climate Change Response, a directive officially adopting a 2050 net-zero emissions target and 50% renewable energy by 2030 target. The Climate Council has welcomed the response, saying that the NT now joins the rest of Australia’s states and territories in effectively forming a “de facto national net-zero target”.
Western Power delivers first community SPS
The Nowanup property is a keystone in south-west Western Australia’s biodiversity regeneration, and now, with the installation of a stand-alone power system (SPS) from Western Power, the spur of the line property is no longer subject to routine outages from storm and bushfire interruptions. With self-sufficiency, Curtin University can now expand its Bush Campus into the property to better facilitate Noongar education.
AEMC gives energy businesses extra three months breathing space before major market reform
The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) has decided to give energy businesses an extra three months to prepare the IT overhaul necessary for the five-minute settlement market reform. The decision comes in response to concerns that the unprecedented impacts of Covid-19 necessitated extra breathing space.
Q Cells commits to three-year, €125m German R&D spend
The Korean company has committed to invest in solar innovation in Germany at a time when the EU and member states are desperately trying to kick-start the Covid-19 recovery.
Natron Energy, developer of sodium-ion batteries, raises USD35M as investment in storage surges
The startup is building a battery using Prussian blue analogue electrodes and a sodium-ion electrolyte. Investors include ABB Technology Ventures, NanoDimension Capital, Volta Energy Technologies, Chevron, Khosla Ventures, and Prelude Ventures.
Study recommends developing ‘made-in-WA batteries’
A key lithium-ion battery cathode material could be produced in Western Australia, a Queensland University of Technology (QUT) feasibility study has found. The study, released by the WA state government today, investigated whether superior nickel-rich nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) can be produced cost effectively and sustainably in the state in which nine of the ten mineral elements required for lithium-ion battery cells are present.
Throw another prawn on the battery
Scientists led by MIT have suggested chitin, a carbon and nitrogen-rich material made from waste shrimp shells, could produce sustainable electrodes for vanadium redox flow batteries and other energy storage technologies.
Deakin University set to steward new energy storage Research Hub
A New Safe and Reliable Energy Storage and Conversion Technologies Research Hub is one of five grant recipients of the Australian Research Council’s funding for Industrial Transformation. The Hub will seek to develop new technologies in energy storage to eliminate the risk of fire, as well as addressing the environmental impact of current technologies.
