Energy Management Systems

Australia’s federal government has allocated $3 billion (USD 1.93 billion) from its Rewiring the Nation program to upgrade Western Australia’s two islanded grids, which lag the eastern states in their renewable energy share.

Queensland iron flow battery company Energy Storage Industries is delivering 1 MW/10 MWh of flow battery energy storage to Queensland’s Stanwell Power Station just outside of Rockhampton. The flow batteries are part of a new government-run clean energy testing ‘hub’ at Rockhampton, which will also include hydrogen and workforce training programs.

Just days after a federal government-funded research body warned of potential cyber risks for Australia’s energy grids due to foreign-made solar technology, Sydney-headquartered wholesale energy software supplier Energy One has suffered a data breach.

Australia’s national science agency will lead a ‘smart buildings’ pilot project that has the potential to create a new ecosystem of technologies and solutions to support flexible demand for energy, offering a way to ease pressure on the grid during peak demand periods.

Tesla has filed a lawsuit in a United States federal court against Australian energy technology company Cap-XX alleging its supercapacitors infringe two U.S. patents owned by Maxwell Technologies, a subsidiary of the EV and battery manufacturing giant.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has awarded $3.7 million in funding to Enel X to add hundreds of supermarkets and refrigerated warehouses to a virtual power plant (VPP) operation to provide flexible demand to the National Electricity Market. 

Australian startup Allume Energy’s SolShare platform, that allows multiple energy consumers to share the benefits of a single rooftop solar array, has been deployed in New Zealand for the first time with the technology installed at a three-storey public housing complex in Christchurch.

Solar Analytics, an Australian solar energy analytics company, is offering a new service that allows solar owners to retrieve consumption data directly from retail meters, eliminating the need for additional consumption metering. Known as Integrated+, the release to all eligible homes in the National Electricity Market (NEM) follows a trial in Victoria. 

Over the next five to 15 years, batteries will undercut the business case for major transmission and interconnector projects. These assets will nonetheless likely be built, decreasing price spreads and eating into the revenues of batteries, solar and storage analyst Warwick Johnston predicts.

Decarbon Venture, a startup cofounded by an outback-living Australian entrepreneur, has launched what it claims to be the world’s first “swappable” solar generator at half the weight and double the power rating of other products on the market.