Energy Storage

Japan’s J-Power will invest up to $25 million in the Sydney-based publicly listed renewables developer. The investment will underpin the construction of Genex’s landmark pumped hydro project in northern Queensland.

UNSW Sydney will start procuring all of its electricity from a NSW solar farm by next year and gradually expand onsite solar energy generation by 2022, as well as improve energy and water efficiency to reduce its environmental footprint.

The French renewables giant has reached financial close for the 256.5 MW Kiamal Solar Farm with the support of a group of Australian and European financial institutions. Additionally, Australia’s green bank Clean Energy Finance Corporation entered the project by taking a minority equity stake.

The Queensland government has launched a five-year plan to help drive the development of a renewable hydrogen industry and create more highly skilled jobs and export opportunities.

Renewable energy investment in the APAC region, excluding China, will overtake spending on oil and gas exploration and production spending by 2020, finds Norwegian consultancy Rystad Energy. And Australia is set to emerge as one of the leading investment destinations.

Western Australia’s government says nearly a third of successful applicants in the latest round of the state-backed commodity exploration scheme hopes to discover battery materials. In other news, the state government has established the Energy Transformation Taskforce in response to the energy sector’s transition from coal to renewables and distributed energy resources. 

The Brisbane-based energy storage company has been contracted to supply its zinc-bromine flow battery solution for a smart grid projects sponsored by China’s National Energy Bureau. It has also secured a preferred supplier status with New Zealand-headquartered Soul Energy to provide batteries for the first of a number of expected infrastructure projects throughout Australasia.

The Australian arm of German energy storage provider Senec has welcomed Mark Keogh as a shareholder and member of the board of directors. Keogh is the founder and CEO of UON, a WA-based provider of turnkey power, air and water solutions to the mining and resources industry.

It’s unclear exactly what the interest is in the California super-capacitor maker, but it could be more about the process than the product.

A research team from Monash University has introduced an intrinsically stable, ‘self-healing’ catalytic system based on earth abundant elements to promote the water electrolysis process in a strongly acidic environment and elevated temperatures.