Utility Scale Storage

The Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue 2022 event has shown the centrality of renewables and green hydrogen in the world’s future energy landscape. pv magazine spoke with the General Director of the International Renewable Energy Agency, Francesco La Camera, about the difficulties of creating a hydrogen economy in the absence of demand. According to him, public support and policies will be crucial to overcoming this challenge.

Australia’s march towards a renewable energy future has reached another milestone with AGL Energy announcing the closure of the first of four turbines at the 1,680MW coal-fired Liddell Power Station, signalling the beginning of the end for the ageing plant.

Queensland government-owned utility CS Energy has announced plans to build a 100MW/200MWh battery near Chinchilla on the Western Downs with the state government identifying large-scale energy storage as fundamental in the state’s energy transition.

A new report published by U.K.-based energy think tank Ember shows that solar PV was the world’s fastest rising source of electricity generation in 2021 and Australia leads the world in its uptake with solar generating 12% of the nation’s electricity last year.

The deal between Fortescue Future Industries and E.ON, one of Europe’s largest energy network operators, will see the Australian company deliver five million tonnes of green hydrogen to Germany, the Netherlands and other European cities by 2030. “For us, it’s a minimum $50 billion expenditure. And that is one I welcome,” Fortescue founder Andrew Forrest said at press conference in Berlin overnight.

Australian fossil fuels giant Woodside will invest in US-based concentrated solar startup Heliogen, supporting its construction of a full-scale concentrated solar thermal demonstration plant in California ahead of a push into Australia.

Traditionally one of the slower states to move away from fossil fuels, New South Wales is rapidly turning the tables – and the market is responding enthusiastically. The state government yesterday revealed it had received more than $4 billion worth of investment interest for its Hunter and Illawarra hydrogen hubs.

The world’s largest solar PV and battery energy storage project has locked in renewed political support with the Northern Territory government confirming it will introduce special legislation into parliament this week that will facilitate the development of the giga-scale Australia-Asia PowerLink project.

Researchers from The University of Queensland have developed a new nanotechnology that they say more than doubles the lifespan of high-voltage lithium-ion batteries, paving the way for higher density and lower-cost energy storage solutions.

The New South Wales Government has outlined plans for another coordinated renewable energy zone which will deliver at least 2.5GW of new network capacity as the state’s transitions from fossil fuels towards renewable power accelerates.