Utility Scale Storage

Remote energy development specialist Pacific Energy has commissioned a 24 MW solar farm, which is producing power, and 13 MW battery energy storage system at the Tropicana gold mine, 330 kilometres northeast of Kalgoorlie in remote Western Australia.

Remote power specialist Pacific Energy has delivered a 3.8 MW solar array and two battery energy storage systems to mining company Mineral Resources Ken’s Bore mine site in the Pilbara region, 1,300 kilometres north of Perth.

Construction of the second stage 240 MW battery at Origin Energy’s Eraring Power Station located 120 kilometres north of Sydney and 40 kilometres south of Newcastle in New South Wales, has officially begun.

Rooftop solar has outshone other renewables in Q3 2024, contributing 38.5% of generation ahead of grid-scale solar, 18.3% and wind,13.4%, while new capacity progressing through the connection phase grew 36% and battery projects, by 87%, compared to Q3 2023.

The federal government will tip more than $17 million into what it said will be Australia’s first commercial concentrated solar thermal heat plant, expanding the application of solar power beyond electricity to heat generation.

French renewable energy and storage developer Neoen has confirmed that the 219 MW / 877 MWh first stage of what will be one of Australia’s largest battery energy storage systems has commenced operations in Western Australia’s coal heartlands.

Queensland-based energy tech company AnteoTech has secured almost $4 million in funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency to help fast-track the development of its silicon-dominant lithium-ion battery anode technology.

Labelled the “most difficult” in the world, Australia’s regulatory environment and grid connection process for new large-scale renewable energy generation and storage has also been lauded as the standard bearer for the global market.

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.