PV with gravity storage, redox flow batteries in buildings
Indian researchers have developed a new hybrid system featuring a conventional rooftop PV system, a solar tree, two gravity power modules for building (GPMBs), and a vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB), with power exclusively provided by the two solar installations.
‘Likely to further dilute trust’: misunderstanding community opposition to transmission lines
As community opposition to overhead transmission line grows, the Victoria-based Energy Grid Alliance has released a report imploring the energy industry to better understand why the phenomenon is gaining momentum – positing the ‘talk to them early and pay them more’ approach will only further decay the situation. Instead, the group says real attention needs to be paid to social license and ensuring environmental and socioeconomic impacts of chosen transmission corridors are considered from the get-go.
Weekend read: Flowing into the lithium supply gap
Australian-born vanadium redox flow technology and new homegrown electrolyte sources are set to bulk up renewable energy storage options in the Pacific region and plug the gap left by lithium supply-chain issues. Natalie Filatoff reports from Sydney.
Growing consensus on 100% renewables
An international group of researchers from 15 universities has said that there is growing consensus among scientists that an energy system based on 100% renewables could be achieved cost effectively by 2050.
WA rolls out management system to quadruple rooftop solar potential in regions, underpin 100% renewable microgrids
Horizon Power, the state government owned electricity provider for much of regional Western Australia, is set to rollout energy management technology which integrates the utility’s assets with distributed energy resources. The technology, which uses predictive analytics, hopes to unlock access to renewables in the regions.
Queensland pumped hydro & battery storage facility selects EPC
US engineering company Bechtel will support planning for proposed Queensland pumped hydro and energy storage facility, Big-T, at Lake Cressbrook in the state’s southeast. The project involves a 400 MW pumped hydro facility with 10 hours of storage and a 200 MW/200 MWh battery system.
Hunter Valley hydrogen hub vision balloons with AGL & FFI considering up to 2 GW
Bringing on board gas giants APA Group, Inpex Corporation, Osaka Gas and distributor Jemena, AGL and Fortescue Future Industries say their Hunter Valley coal to hydrogen hub conversions could be as large as 2 GW – though the insistence on green hydrogen does appear somewhat muddied by the new partnerships.
Rio Tinto mulls 4 GW of renewable proposals for its Queensland operations
Miner Rio Tinto has received offers to build more than 4 GW of solar and wind capacity after the company sought proposals to help it cut carbon emissions at its Queensland operations.
Study finds 100% renewables would pay off within six years
New research from Stanford University researcher Mark Jacobson outlines how 145 countries could meet 100% of their business-as-usual energy needs with wind, water, solar and energy storage. The study finds that in all the countries considered, lower-cost energy and other benefits mean the required investment for transition is paid off within six years. The study also estimates that worldwide, such a transition would create 28 million more jobs than it lost.
NT’s first hydrogen-fuelled generator piloted by Charles Darwin University
The Northern Territory is set to install its first hydrogen energy storage system as part of a pilot being operated by the Charles Darwin University in Darwin.
