Energy Storage

On the back of a 20 year power-purchase agreement with Total Eren, the global confectionary giant has taken 100% renewable energy pledge for its six Australian factories.

With an unprecedented rollout of rooftop solar reaching 1.1 GW and around 700 MW of large-scale renewable energy projects completed and connected to the grid, last year was an important turning point for Australia’s clean energy industry, shows the Clean Energy Council in its latest report. However, seven times bigger capacity of utility-scale projects with financial support or under construction at the year’s end is poised to eclipse 2017.

The 174 MW solar farm coupled with a 100 MWh energy storage facility near Wellington has received a green light from the New South Wales Department of Planning and Environment. The project proposal came from First Solar.

Australia’s energy utility Snowy Hydro has invited potential energy suppliers to submit their proposals with the aim to contract up to 400 MW of wind and 400 MW of solar generation.

Looking to pursue utility-scale battery storage opportunities in Asia Pacific markets, the Australian renewable energy developer, the US-German joint venture and the Japanese joint venture have entered into a collaboration agreement, under which their first task will be to develop three integrated solar and storage projects in Australia, including what would be by far the world’s biggest battery.

SMA says its new product will offer digital services such as monitoring and automatic notifications to perform maintenance as well as offering an emergency supply system. According to analysts, the varied applications of new inverters signal an increasingly competitive marketplace.

Germany-based PV-storage provider sonnen has closed a new funding round from a group of investors led by Shell Ventures. Sonnen has already began to draw on the funds as it continues to expand market shares in the U.S. and in Australia. Shell Ventures is now a major sonnen investor and future cooperation agreement has been agreed to.

The booming large scale and rooftop PV market in 2018 is providing many reasons to be optimistic about the future of solar under the Australian sun. In reflecting on his six-year tenure as CEO at ARENA, ahead of his departure in August, Ivor Frischknecht points to the role the agency has placed in bringing down the costs of large scale solar in Australia as ARENA’s greatest achievement.

Sungrow is best known for its PV inverter range – which covers the residential, C&I and power plant market segments. The Chinese inverter maker has hopes to see it gain increased traction in Australia by broadening its product portfolio in the country.

Korean battery manufacturer Kokam has stepped forward as the supplier of the 30 MW/11.4 MWh electricity energy storage system installed at Alinta Energy’s Newman Power Station in North West WA. The producer says its Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC) Oxide delivers advantages in high power utility and industrial applications.