Balance of Systems

The Australian government will commence talks with investors and industry this week on the formation of a $15 billion (USD 10.2 billion) national reconstruction fund that aims to boost investment in onshore manufacturing, including the production of solar panels, batteries and hydrogen electrolysers, and components for wind turbines.

Australian renewables developer North Harbour Clean Energy will team with European battery energy storage systems supplier CellCube to establish a vanadium redox flow battery manufacturing and assembly facility in Australia with a projected capacity of up to 1 GW/8 GWh per annum.

The Queensland government is forecasting a renewables-led manufacturing and jobs boom in the state with hundreds of Australian and international companies registering their interest in supplying the thousands of solar panels, batteries, wind turbines, and kilometres of transmission lines the state says it will need to deliver its $62 billion (USD 40 billion) energy transformation plan.

Australia’s two dominant tracker companies, Nextracker and Array Technologies, are launching terrain following products which the companies claim mitigate, sometimes even eliminate, the need for earthworks on site, opening up a host of previously unsuitable land for solar. Nextracker has just completed its first terrain-following project in Australia, with Array Technologies’ line set for delivery in the second half of 2023.

Australia’s first zinc-bromide battery production line has commenced operations with Gelion Technologies launching a manufacturing facility in Western Sydney capable of producing 2 MWh of batteries annually.

The Northern Territory government has signed an agreement with Taiwanese battery company Aleees and Western Australia-based miner Avenira to develop a battery cathode manufacturing plant in Darwin.

The two batteries have a storage capacity of 13 and 19.5 kWh, respectively. Both lithium-ion systems use LiFePO4 as the cathode material and have a round-trip efficiency of over 86%.

Chinese-Canadian PV heavyweight Canadian Solar is set to unveil a new residential energy storage unit that is compatible with new and existing solar arrays and is customisable from 9.9 kWh to 19.9 kWh capacities.

Australia’s first lithium-ion battery giga-factory is expected to begin operations soon with battery manufacturer Energy Renaissance announcing the successful completion of a $1.47 million pilot program designed to develop and test its manufacturing processes, systems and plant design.

Sydney-based lithium-ion battery specialist Magnis Energy Technologies has begun commercial production of full-sized cells at its manufacturing plant in the United States with plans to increase production to 38 GWh of battery cell capacity per year by the end of the decade.