Utility Scale Storage

Canadian firm Hydrostor has struck a deal to provide back-up power to the remote New South Wales outback town of Broken Hill using a compressed air energy storage plant that will be built in an underground cavern at one of the region’s closed mines.

Australian commercial solar outfit CleanPeak Energy will deliver at least four new solar farms in regional New South Wales after striking a green energy deal with the state government that will ensure the long-term carbon neutrality of Sydney’s Barangaroo precinct.

A “major influx” of new renewable generation and storage capacity is poised to connect to Australia’s main grid with the energy market operator revealing almost 150 projects representing more than 31 GW of new capacity are in the application and pre-registration stages.

Victorian network operator AusNet has commenced construction of a transmission network upgrade that is expected to reduce generation constraints and improve network stability in the state’s southwest, unlocking 1.5 GW of additional renewable energy generation capacity.

EnergyAustralia has released the concept design for a 335 MW pumped hydro energy storage and generation project it plans to develop at Lake Lyell near Lithgow in central western New South Wales.

For the seventh year in the row, China-based Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. (CATL) looks set to claim the title of the world’s biggest battery maker. There are a number of reasons why it continues to maintain its lead in the electric vehicle (EV) and battery energy storage system (BESS) markets.

Australian energy giant AGL will install a nickel-hydrogen battery at its Torrens Island power station site in South Australia as it seeks to explore the potential opportunities that the technology can provide for stationary energy storage applications.

The Western Australian government has just allocated $220 million to support Griffin coal mine, so operations may continue until June 2026. The funding was announced by Premier Roger Cook and the Minister for Energy, Mines and Petroleum Bill Johnston, who earlier announced he is stepping down from cabinet last week.

Through a co-funding deal with Victoria’s newly revived SEC, Equis Development has reached financial close and begun construction on phase 1 of its giant 1.2 GW Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub. Plans for the hub, which includes gigawatt hours of storage, seem to have shifted somewhat, with phase 1 now three independent batteries of 200 MW with either two- or four-hours of storage.

Investment in Australia’s renewable energy sector is more than 10 times lower than where it should be to reach 2030 targets, according to the Clean Energy Council calculations. Australia’s “sluggish” large-scale segment is the result of a confluence of issues, and illustrates the urgent need for the federal government’s newly supercharged Capacity Investment Scheme.