Utility Scale Storage

While Australia continues to be a revelatory solar market internationally, it lost its place in the top 10 solar installers globally in 2023, the IEA PVPS team reports. According to Renate Egan, Executive Director for the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics, it is the first time in 30 years Australia has dropped off that list. “What’s sad is that the rest of the world is now taking off and investing in solar and we’re falling behind,” she said at Melbourne’s All Energy on Thursday.

Australian company Rux Energy is commercialising technology that uses highly porous nanomaterials to coat tanks for hydrogen storage, claiming significant improvements to the cost, safety and efficiency of what remains a major industry barrier. It has secured funding in the Australian government’s latest round of research grants, and recently opened an office in Essex off the back of industry trials now underway in the UK.

The time for Australia to pursue its renewable energy ‘superpower’ ambitions is now with an audience at All Energy 2024 told the policy settings, regulatory rigor, and support are in place to enable a strong clean energy future.

The federal government has announced it will double the amount of storage projects being sought in the next found of tenders for its Capacity Investment Scheme, upping it from 2 GW / 8 GWh to 4 GW / 16 GWh. The solar and wind tenders have also been increased, moving from 4 GW to 6 GW.

Gamesa Electric has signed an agreement with Fortescue for the 50 MW/250 MWh North Star Junction battery energy storage system (BESS) in Western Australia.

Renewables developer X-Elio, owned by Brookfield Renewable, has today announced it will add a 148 MW battery system to its operational Blue Grass solar farm in Queensland, marking its first hybrid solar + storage venture in Australia.

Energy Vault, a Swiss company which initially entered international markets with gravity-based storage technologies before expanding into lithium batteries, has signed a $350 million (USD 234 million) agreement with Australian developer Enervest to deliver a 1 GWh lithium battery for a site in Stoney Creek, NSW.

The Australian government will supercharge its program of underwriting renewable energy generation and clean dispatchable capacity by significantly expanding the next auction in its flagship Capacity Investment Scheme policy.

Western Australia is a step closer to adding another big battery to its network after a 100 MW / 400 MWh project proposed by Sunrise Energy Group was awarded planning approval by the state government.

The New South Wales government will pump up the state’s long-duration energy storage capacity target to 28 GWh by 2034 as it prepares for the exit of coal-fired power generation and greater renewable energy integration.