Markets & Policy

Australia’s first lithium-ion battery manufacturer, Energy Renaissance, has received a half million dollar grant to develop its pilot manufacturing facility in the state’s Hunter region.

The number of residential home batteries in Queensland has doubled while electricity bill cost concern has almost halved, found the “biggest survey of its kind” conducted in the state. The survey’s findings, which set to be released in full later this week, were summarised this morning by Queensland Minister for Energy, Renewables and Hydrogen, Mick de Brenni, at a virtual event.

Compressed air energy storage is not exactly a new technology, but recent months have seen this older storage technology with a new lease of life as intermittent renewable sources of energy come to the fore. Recent large-scale air storage plants have been announced in North America and the Middle East, and now some of that hot air has arrived on Australian shores.

European commissioner for economy Paolo Gentiloni has outlined how the commission’s planned revision of the energy taxation regime, and introduction of an EU carbon border, could be applied.

The head of the nation’s Smart Energy Council told an event organised by the Global Solar Council, that landmark could be achieved even amid Covid-19 restrictions.

Southeast Asia could well become the global engine room of renewable energy expansion. Population and economic growth is expected across the three decades in which the world has to decarbonise, but the brimming bounty of renewables deployment will force developers to navigate the region’s systems. As it turns out, that could be a treacherous task.

With 1 MW of rooftop solar entering the Western Australian energy system each week the state government has announced a multi-million dollar package which will allow for an update of its grid transition strategy which aims to accommodate a rapid shift to renewable energy.

Indonesia will catch the eye too over the next nine years, according to Wood Mackenzie analysts, as its market grows from 300 MW to 8.5 GW.

Independent MP Zali Steggall has called for a conscience vote after two Liberal backbenchers broke ranks to back a net zero by 2050 emissions target after a parliamentary committee rejected a bill to legislate the goal.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency will provide $2 million to ClimateWorks Australia for the next phase of the Australian Industry Energy Transitions Initiative, which is aims to support some of the country’s biggest companies to decarbonise.