Utility Scale Storage

Griffith University researchers have developed a tool to identify sites for pumped hydro storage projects. Using North Queensland to demonstrate the tool, the researchers identified 14 potentially feasible sites in the region where the LCOE ranged between $0.04/kWh – $0.27/kWh.

Phillip Island off Victoria’s southern coast has switched on a 5 MW/10 MWh lithium-ion phosphate battery to support the island’s grid during peak tourism periods.

Construction of Australia’s first commercial-scale concentrated solar power plant is on track to begin next year with developer Vast appointing American Australian engineering company Worley to help deliver a 30 MW/288 MWh facility planned for South Australia.

Queensland has laid out an ambitious vision for the state’s energy future, releasing draft legislation that calls for an additional 22 GW of new wind and solar projects by 2035, supported by at least 12 GW of storage, firming and dispatchable technologies including grid-scale batteries and pumped hydro storage.

Australian energy major AGL is pushing ahead with plans to transform its Loy Yang power station site in Victoria into a clean energy industrial hub, announcing it has signed a deal with Solar Recovery Corporation to explore the feasibility of establishing a PV panel recycling facility at the site.

Construction of eight large-scale renewable energy generation and storage projects with a combined capacity of more than 1 GW commenced in Australia in the first quarter of 2023 but the Clean Energy Council has warned the project pipeline is drying up as “headwinds” increase.

Australian redox-flow battery manufacturer Redflow will build one of the world’s largest zinc-based battery energy storage systems in the United States after inking a multi-million-dollar deal with the California Energy Commission.

Renewables investor Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners has confirmed its focus is on the onshore potential of Sun Cable’s estimated $35 billion (USD 22.76 billion) Australia-Asia PowerLink project that aims to deliver up to 800 MW of renewable energy into Darwin and export solar from Australia to Singapore via a submarine transmission link.

The New England megaproject just became even more mega, and is now set to house a 1.4 GW / 2.8 GWh battery – taking the crown for Australia’s biggest battery. Developer ACEN Australia says the NSW government has approved its expanded battery proposal, which is set to go in next door to its 720 MW New England Solar project.

The Victorian government has signed off on a preferred development plan for the contentious VNI West transmission project that will connect the Victorian and New South Wales electricity grids and promises to unlock upwards of 3.4 GW of new renewable generation capacity.