Finance

The Australian government’s green bank has invested a record $1.2 billion (USD 770 million) in large-scale renewables projects in the past financial year but has warned “a lot more” needs to be done to reach 82% renewables by 2030.

Australian clean energy outfit Atmos Renewables has acquired the 112.5 MW Karadoc Solar Farm in northwest Victoria after striking a deal with German-headquartered renewable energy developer BayWa r.e..

Australian households that make the shift to all-electric energy-efficient appliances, combined with solar panels, battery storage and electric vehicles, could save $3,500 a year by 2030 and $4,320 by 2050 compared with a fossil-fuelled household that relies on gas appliances and petrol or diesel vehicles.

American investment giant BlackRock has teamed with the New Zealand government to launch a NZ$2 billion (AUD 1.86 billion) climate infrastructure fund to accelerate the growth of green energy technologies like solar, wind, green hydrogen and battery storage to fuel a low-emissions economy.

The Australian government needs to commit up to $138 billion (USD 90 billion) over the next decade to support manufacturing of renewable energy-related equipment or risk the country being left behind in the race to develop the technologies and manufacturing capacities needed to prosper from the global energy transition.

Newcastle-based clean energy company MGA Thermal has secured $8.25 million (USD 5.39 million) from domestic and international investors as it gears up for commercial scale production of its thermal long-duration energy storage solution.

Australian hydrogen technology startup H2X Global will accelerate the rollout of its hydrogen-powered vehicle range in both domestic and international markets after securing an $87 billion (USD 57 million) investment agreement with United States-based Verde Mobility.

Ingeteam has sold its operation and maintenance (O&M) division to United Kingdom-based RES Group. It says the division’s 35 GW of O&M contracts throughout the world are valued at $58.55 billion (€35 billion).

Flow battery technology is under the microscope with the Queensland government committing $24 million (USD 15.83 million) to further evaluate and assess the capacity of the technology to support the next stage of the state’s battery capability and help meet its renewable energy targets.

Construction of the 350 MW Blind Creek solar farm and large-scale battery energy storage project planned for southeast New South Wales is set to begin next year with renewables developer Octopus Australia announcing the state government has now granted planning approval.