Australian company Natural Solar has seen a 400% increase in battery installs across Australia within two years. The company’s CEO Chris Williams told pv magazine Australia that Victoria has led demand, growing 350% in the second half of 2021 alone. Williams believes the surge has been driven by several compounding factors.
Renewable energy investors have again shattered the New South Wales Government’s expectations with more than 80 clean energy projects representing more than $100 billion of potential investment registering for the Hunter-Central Coast Renewable Energy Zone.
Long thought of as adversaries to renewable energy, fossil fuel assets and infrastructure also present opportunities for solar, its green-hydrogen output, and smart energy storage. Natalie Filatoff reports on the opportunities and approaches the miners are taking.
Fortescue Future Industries has acquired Williams Advanced Engineering for $310 million as it looks to capitalise on its critical battery technology to cut emissions from its mining vehicles. An offshoot of the Williams Formula 1 Team, Williams Advanced Engineering has already helped to develop an electric mining haul truck for Fortescue in 2021.
Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto’s ambition to become one of the world’s largest lithium suppliers has taken a battering with the Serbian government pulling the plug on the company’s $3.3 billion ($US2.4 billion) Jadar lithium-borates project.
Current price signals to distributed battery owners “do not align with grid value,” says a study from the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.
The investment is planned to support development and construction of Hydrostor’s 1.1GW, 8.7GWh of Advanced Compressed Air Energy Storage projects that are well underway in California and Australia, and help expand Hydrostor’s project development pipeline globally.
Western Australia’s state-owned electricity company Horizon Power has installed 19 solar + battery standalone power systems for farmers in Esperance on the state’s southern coast.
Korea Zinc, non-ferrous metal smelting company, has agreed to invest $50 million in Energy Vault, a Switzerland-based gravity storage specialist, in order to use its tech to decarbonise its refining and smelting operations in Australia.
Reliance Industries said its solar unit will buy UK-based sodium-ion battery technology provider Faradion for GBP100 million (AUD$187 million) including debt, as the Indian conglomerate pushes forward with its ambitious plan to move into the renewable energy industry.
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