Markets

The Solomon Islands Renewable Energy Development Project will finance two solar farms and a utility-scale grid-connected energy storage system on the Solomon Islands. The Asian Development Bank, SAsian Development Bank and Solomon Power are all financing the project.

Queensland Hydro has announced more than $190 million in work packages linked to the construction of the 2 GW / 48 GWh Borumba pumped hydro energy storage project being developed near Gympie in the state’s southeast.

Genex Power has struck an offtake agreement with Queensland government-owned energy giant Stanwell Corporation that will underpin the development of the 775 MW first stage of the Bulli Creek solar and battery project planned for the state’s southeast.

This year’s UN Climate Change Conference could adopt a target to increase global energy storage capacity more than sixfold by 2030. To achieve this, the world would need to add more than 158 GW of energy-storage capacity annually.

Spanish-Japanese renewable energy company Univergy Solar and Australian partner New Energy Development have secured New South Wales government approval to build a 100 MW solar farm and 45 MW / 90 MWh battery energy storage system in the Yass Valley.

State and federal governments are being urged to ramp up deployment of long-duration energy storage after a new report found significant capacity additions would result in 38% lower system costs than alternatives while playing a critical role in maintaining reliability as coal plants retire over the next decade.

Shipment volumes are growing in the global solar tracker market as innovation in project development drives demand. Joe Steveni, of S&P Global Commodity Insights, takes a look at the factors shaping the commercial landscape for trackers, from agrivoltaics and undulating terrain to Indian ambition and the United States’ Inflation Reduction Act.

Japan-headquartered energy retailer Smartest Energy has signed a power purchase agreement to buy 50% of a New South Wales’ solar farm’s energy output with the aim of procuring 100% renewable energy for its business customers.

The Victorian government has given the green light for construction on what is to be the state’s largest solar farm to begin, providing planning approval for a $651 million solar and battery energy storage project being developed in the Latrobe Valley.

Telecommunications giant Telstra has added to its renewable energy portfolio, signing up to offtake power from a 200 MW solar farm being built in New South Wales by the Australian arm of Global Power Generation, a subsidiary of Spanish utility Naturgy Energy Group.