Energy Storage

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has promised that if ACT Labor is re-elected in October, his government will invest $100 million over the next five years toward the construction of a 250 MW citywide battery network. A battery of that size is unprecedented but certainly achievable, and every Canberran can take part.

Doubling down on renewable energy investment and energy transition spending is required to ensure a truly green global recovery from the Covid-19 crisis and its economic aftershock, claims the International Renewable Energy Agency.

Oil and metals trader will join forces with Australian investment group IFM to launch the new entity, which will develop solar, wind and energy storage projects – some of them supplying clean energy to Trafigura operations – as well as making acquisitions.

Honorary University of New South Wales Associate Professor, Mark Diesendorf, takes the Coalition’s Technology Roadmap apart, revealing just how unsealed the road really is, and why renewables pave the way.

South Australia’s new solar installation regulations came into effect on September 28. The regulations, designed to better manage a distributed energy system, are thought rushed by some in the industry, but ultimately they should facilitate more solar integration.

International researchers have analysed the potential of sodium-based energy storage and found recent technical advances have arrived faster than those for the lithium-ion batteries which have been studied for three decades. Issues remain, however, before sodium constitutes a complementary option to lithium.

AGL Energy has expanded its solar battery VPP to Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria with the immediate launch of solar battery sales for residents of the eastern states, while solar and battery bundles will be available by the end of the year.

Like most Tesla events, speculation and hype were at all-time highs after CEO Elon Musk hinted that something “very insane” would be revealed. He was not far off! Tesla detailed a completely new cell, along with plans to improve manufacturing, costs and shrink the battery supply chain. With such bold claims come many questions.

Lithium Valley south of Perth is set for two new faces after UK battery manufacturer AMTE Power and Perth-based infrastructure firm InfraNomics signed an MOU to explore the possibility of establishing lithium-ion cell manufacturing facilities in Western Australia.

A new research paper looks at the membranes used for applications in vanadium redox flow batteries. It outlines various membrane technologies and the obstacles to bringing batteries to mass production.