Energy Storage

BloombergNEF says it has recorded a 14% decline in battery prices this year, mainly due to cheaper raw materials, following an unprecedented rise in 2022.

For the seventh year in the row, China-based Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. (CATL) looks set to claim the title of the world’s biggest battery maker. There are a number of reasons why it continues to maintain its lead in the electric vehicle (EV) and battery energy storage system (BESS) markets.

Through a co-funding deal with Victoria’s newly revived SEC, Equis Development has reached financial close and begun construction on phase 1 of its giant 1.2 GW Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub. Plans for the hub, which includes gigawatt hours of storage, seem to have shifted somewhat, with phase 1 now three independent batteries of 200 MW with either two- or four-hours of storage.

Planning permits have been granted to two large battery projects by Victoria’s planning department: the existing Elaine Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) by Akaysha Energy has been approved for expansion at its four-hour energy battery, and Flow Energy’s BESS project at Bennett’s Creek that will further transform the former coal country into a hub for 24/7 renewable energy.

A fire at one of Australia’s biggest lithium mines has left it unable to process ore for the past days. The fire at Mineral Resources’ Wodgina mine in Western Australia has since been brought under control and the company says shipping will not be impacted.

Cue, a town in Western Australia’s midwest, has installed 259 kW of solar and a 336 kWh battery system to wean itself off diesel. The installation is part of Horizon Power’s Midwest Solar Program and belongs within a much larger state-wide transformation.

Sunshine Hydro and project partner Energy Estate have signed an agreement to give First Nations stakeholders a 20% equity option in the companies’ Djandori Gung-i Superhybrid project at Miriam Vale, Queensland. The project proposes to deliver up to 600 MW of pumped hydro capacity and up to 300 MW of hydrogen electrolysers.

Having completed first prototype testing outside the lab for its green hydrogen photocatalytic water splitting technology, joint venture company Sparc Hydrogen has been working on its pilot plant study, selecting a site “proximal to Adelaide.”

Dr. Thomas Nann examines the benefits and limitations of lithium-ion batteries, imploring Australia to embrace disruptive innovation, not incrementalism.

Fike Corp., a US industrial-hazard protection specialist, has launched Fike Blue, a tested, patented solution that suppresses battery fires and stops cascading thermal runaway.