Energy Storage

With 82,000 cumulative system installations, Australia ranks among the world’s leading markets for residential energy storage. But uptake is still sluggish, thanks to long payback periods, and market developments are only now beginning to emerge. That said, forecasts are still bullish for batteries Down Under – it is only a question of when.

South Australia’s first ten-star home was completed last month, a home that consumes twenty times less energy than the average Australian household, in part thanks to its Fimer React 2 solar hybrid system.

The 50% expansion of Neoen’s Hornsdale Power Reserve, otherwise known as the Tesla Big Battery, has been successfully completed. If testing of the upgraded battery goes well, Hornsdale could begin to function with an expanded remit of synthetic inertia services, a capability which could have significant impact on regulatory changes.

The Western Australian Government has launched its new Distributed Energy Buyback Scheme, a way for homes, schools, and not-for-profits with rooftop solar, energy storage, and even electric vehicles (EVs) to earn some money back from the surplus energy they export to the grid. 

The South Australian Government has announced a $9 million investment towards the transition of Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands from diesel reliance to the self-reliance of solar and energy storage. The contract is good news for one of the most continuously culturally fecund regions in the country.

Toowoomba’s Grand Central shops are currently getting a solar treatment, over 2,400 panels installed through a partnership between the QLD State Government and Yurika. QLD Energy Minister Anthony Lynham said QLD is behind renewables.

AGL has become the first Australian company to join EV100, a global initiative to make electric vehicles the norm by 2030. AGL’s commitment will see it transition its 400-strong fleet of corporate cars transition to EVs, one of the few proactive shifts the energy giant is making to meet its updated climate statement.

Last month, Australian Parents for Climate Action’s Solar our Schools campaign published an Open Letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison calling for solar and energy storage investment at every school and early childhood centre Australia-wide as part of the Covid-19 economic recovery. Today, pv magazine Australia sits down with Solar our Schools ‘Champion’ Dan Sturrock, a renewable industry professional leading the charge for solar uptake at his kids’ school in Sydney’s inner west.

Neoen’s proposed Goyder South Hybrid Renewable Energy project is so vast that analogy does it a disservice. The French developer has commenced the project’s notification period with the submission of its Development Application, giving us the first real opportunity to begin to quantify its sheer enormity. 1200 MW of wind, 600 MW of solar, and 900 MW/1,800 MWh of battery storage.

It’s a title that is becoming more contentious by the day, but for the time being, LS Power’s 250 MW Gateway project in San Diego, California, is the biggest storage battery in the world.