Utility Scale Storage

Australian energy giant AGL has officially opened its first operational grid-scale battery with the 250 MW/250 MWh facility at its Torrens Island power station site in South Australia now live.

Power utility Alinta Energy is progressing the development of a 100 MW/200 MWh big battery at Wagerup in southwest Western Australia that it says will provide support for the state’s main grid and facilitate the increased penetration of renewable energy.

Brookfield Asset Management has inked a deal with Chinese multinational Envision Group to explore opportunities for manufacturing of clean energy equipment in Australia to support its plan to develop up to 14 GW of renewable generation and storage facilities in the country within the next decade.

The first pumped hydro energy storage project to be delivered in Australia in 40 years is on track for energisation in 2024 with developer Genex Power announcing that the Kidston pumped hydro project is now more than halfway through construction.

Australian energy storage specialist 1414 Degrees has successfully commissioned a demonstration module featuring its thermal energy storage technology that harnesses the high latent heat properties of silicon to provide a potential zero-carbon solution for use in high-temperature industries.

Western Australia battery tech company Altech Batteries has raised $13.3 million (USD 8.7 million) to advance the development and commercialisation of its sodium-chloride solid state battery project and to progress construction of a silumina anodes battery materials plant in Germany.

The energisation of two new battery projects totalling a combined 150 MW has seen the charging capacity from grid-scale battery energy storage systems surpass that of pumped hydro in Australia’s national grid.

Singapore-based developer Vena Energy has announced it will investigate opportunities to manufacture solar panel components and battery energy storage systems in Indonesia to support a hybrid megaproject featuring up to 2 GW of solar capacity and more than 8 GWh of energy storage.

The size of Australia’s first coordinated renewable energy zone is set to be increased with the New South Wales government announcing the network capacity of the declared Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone will be expanded to better meet the state’s future energy needs as coal-fired power stations progressively retire.

Developers of large-scale PV projects in Australia are being told it is of the utmost importance that they plan for increased frequency of sudden solar power fluctuation events – known as ramps – with new research suggesting that climate change may affect the future stability of grid-connected solar power systems.