Markets & Policy

The New South Wales government will expand the functions of its Energy and Water Ombudsman to include handling complaints around renewable energy infrastructure, including transmission projects, from December 2024.

Singaporean authorities have granted conditional approval to SunCable’s flagship AustraliaAsia PowerLink, with SunCable’s interim CEO describing the win as a “vote of confidence in the commercial and technical viability of our project.”

The federal government has announced it will double the amount of storage projects being sought in the next found of tenders for its Capacity Investment Scheme, upping it from 2 GW / 8 GWh to 4 GW / 16 GWh. The solar and wind tenders have also been increased, moving from 4 GW to 6 GW.

Founder and former CEO of SwitchDin Dr Andrew Mears is launching his new venture, Tesseract ESS, at Melbourne’s All Energy today. The proposition expands on his previous technologies to deliver a ‘storage-as-a-service’ model focused on Australia’s C&I segment, providing battery and solar systems at $0 CAPEX to Australian farmers, manufacturers and other businesses. Pv magazine Australia spoke to Mears ahead of the launch.

Renewables developer X-Elio, owned by Brookfield Renewable, has today announced it will add a 148 MW battery system to its operational Blue Grass solar farm in Queensland, marking its first hybrid solar + storage venture in Australia.

Energy Vault, a Swiss company which initially entered international markets with gravity-based storage technologies before expanding into lithium batteries, has signed a $350 million (USD 234 million) agreement with Australian developer Enervest to deliver a 1 GWh lithium battery for a site in Stoney Creek, NSW.

Solar Quotes founder Finn Peacock expects Origin Energy’s acquisition of the solar installation comparison service will accelerate the rollout of rooftop PV in Australia and the electrification of the nation’s energy system.

Indonesia has struck a deal with Chinese battery industry heavyweight CATL to build a giga-scale battery cell manufacturing plant in the southeast Asian nation as it works to establish a battery and electric vehicle ecosystem.

The Philippines’ Department of Energy says that at least 105 renewable energy projects, including 53 solar projects, face termination for failing to comply with timelines.

The Australian government will supercharge its program of underwriting renewable energy generation and clean dispatchable capacity by significantly expanding the next auction in its flagship Capacity Investment Scheme policy.