Highlights

Gentari, a subsidiary of Malaysian state-owned oil company Petronas, plans to build between 5 GW to 8 GW of solar, wind and battery projects in Australia by 2030. The ambition follows its acquisition and rebranding of Wirsol Energy, which marked the Malaysian company’s entry into the Australian renewable energy market.

Western Australian company Australian Vanadium Limited (AVL) seems to be fairly delayed in realising its vanadium mine and processing plant vision in Western Australia. Nonetheless, the company has signed a new option agreement to purchase land for its processing plant near Geraldton.

Philippines-based AC Energy Corporation (ACEN) has confirmed plans to up its investment in Australia over the next three years to $6 billion (USD 3.86 billion). The company has been highly active in the Australian market this year, and with its increased investment is seeking to bring a further 3 GW of new renewable capacity online.

Western Australia-based company Carnegie Clean Energy has won a $6.3 million (USD 4 million) contract to deliver and operate a ~400 kW version of its wave energy converter off the Spanish coast by 2025.

1Komma5°, a German startup aggressively expanding in Australia, has now begun taking Australian orders for its own line of “ethical, low carbon” solar panels.

The board of Australian lithium developer Liontown Resources has backed a refreshed $6.6 billion (USD 4.3 billion) bid from US company Albemarle Corp., the world’s largest lithium producer. Since then, Liontown has seen a massive spike in trading, with speculation about it being linked to Australia’s richest person.

For the first time, 10 kW solar systems have now become cheaper than the 6.6 kW range on a per kilowatt basis, SunWiz analysis has found. Plus, solar lead generation is up even though fewer customers are proactively searching for systems.

An alliance of eight Sydney councils have saved their ratepayers over $36 million (USD 23 million) by organising 100% renewable energy power purchasing agreements and working together on local energy projects.

With its critical-mineral riches, Australia is seeking to process and manufacture materials to capture more of the energy transition value chain. While logical, the path is already proving onerous and is hampered by the nation’s apparent allergy to boldness.

A panel of experts debated how plausible it is for Australia to enter the battery manufacturing space, and acting-CEO of one of the only companies to produce lithium hydroxide in Australia, IGO, discussed the acute challenges of setting up a refinery onshore during the WA Renewables and Critical Minerals Superpower Summit on Monday.