Markets & Policy

New South Wales distributed network provider Ausgrid has powered up its third battery energy storage system under the federal government’s $200 million Community Batteries for Household Solar program.

The Australian Energy Market Operator has issued new warnings of potential breaches in the reliability standards for the National Electricity Market in coming years due to delays in key transmission projects and looming retirements of coal-fired generators.

Australian green infrastructure investor and developer Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners has announced plans to leverage its growing portfolio of renewable energy and storage projects and green hydrogen produced by a proposed 3 GW production facility to manufacture “green iron” in central Queensland.

Rooftop PV is the fourth largest source of electricity generation in Australia, providing about 11% of the country’s power supply, but solar industry analyst SunWiz has cautioned the market to brace for a challenging period.

North American hydrogen technology company Plug Power has agreed to supply up to 3 GW of electrolysers to Western Australian chemical company Allied Green Ammonia for a large-scale, renewables-based hydrogen and ammonia production project planned for the Northern Territory.

Registration is now open for the first national tender in the Australian government’s Capacity Investment Scheme that is seeking 32 GW of additional renewable energy generation and dispatchable storage capacity by 2030 to support the nation’s clean energy transition.

The Australian Energy Market Commission has published a new ring-fencing rule for transmission network companies as it seeks to boost competition for grid connection services and speed up the deployment of new solar, wind and battery projects.

The South Australian and California state governments have signed an historic agreement that will see them work together on advancing the clean energy transition and the integration of renewable energies, including green hydrogen, into their respective grids.

Budget night unveiled more than $8 billion of support measures to grow the domestic hydrogen industry for its place on the global stage, which energy billionaire Andrew Forrest suggests could make Australia the Saudi Arabia of clean energy.

The focus of the federal government’s $22.7 billion commitment to Australia’s clean energy future has been queried with concerns raised about the capacity of the nation’s electricity network to support the shift from fossil fuel generation to renewables.