Utility Scale Storage

Chinese-Canadian PV manufacturing heavyweight Canadian Solar said it will begin mass production of 690 W TOPCon products in the first quarter of 2023. The modules will feature a cell efficiency of 25.0% and a bifaciality factor of more than 85%.

A new player has entered the Australian renewable energy sector with New Zealand-based infrastructure investor Infratil confirming that its new majority-owned clean energy platform Mint Renewables will look at wind, solar and energy storage opportunities with an initial investment of $300 million (USD 203 million).

Moving with Australia’s Zeitgeist, Stuart Parry, managing director of Energy Storage Industries, is working to bring battery manufacturing onto Australian shores – and his approach is, if not novel, certainly well advanced. “It’s about being smart in how we do it,” Parry tells pv magazine Australia.

Chinese battery maker Hithium and Australian solar developer Sun Valley HK Group have agreed to work together on eight solar farms either under construction or in planning in Australia, presumably deploying Hithium batteries at the sites.

Another of the coordinated clean energy zones planned for New South Wales is a step closer to being developed with the state government announcing the Hunter-Central Coast Renewable Energy Zone, which has already attracted expressions of interest for almost 40 GW of generation, has been formally declared.

With construction having commenced on the 39 MWdc second stage of the Mannum Solar Farm in South Australia, Epic Energy has revealed it is teaming with development partner Canadian Solar to investigate further expansion opportunities at the site, including the possible installation of a battery energy storage system.

Australia’s energy ministers have unanimously agreed to establish a capacity investment mechanism that they anticipate will unleash at least $10 billion (USD 6.7 billion) worth of investment and at least 6 GW of renewable energy generation and storage to stabilise the grid as the nation’s ageing coal-fired power plants exit the energy market.

Researchers from the University of Sydney have created a new sodium-sulphur battery which they say provides four times the energy capacity of lithium-ion batteries and is far cheaper to produce, providing the potential to dramatically reduce energy storage costs.

French renewable energy giant Neoen has secured development approval to build a 1 GW /4 GWh big battery in Western Australia as the state government seeks to ramp up energy storage capacity to support its planned transition from coal-fired power to renewables.

Authorities have provided developer CWP Renewables with the tick of approval for what will be the first big battery in Australia to be added to an existing wind or solar farm with the same connection point in the National Electricity Market.