Policy

West Australian energy company Powerhouse has completed the install of a 60 kVA, off-grid solar array in the state’s far north, to power a remote electric vehicle charger as part of the 7,000 kilometre long WAEV Network project.

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation has invested $100 million in the property development strategy of France-headquartered investment firm AXA IM Alts, which aims to embed sustainability into their Australian builds.

Big BESS is booming in Australia, with almost 5 GW of projects under construction last year, according Rystad Energy. While encouraging, the analyst reports that the volume remains insufficient to overcome growing rates of renewable curtailment. “We have around 3 GW operational at the moment, but about half of that is still in commissioning. So you still only have 1.5 GW on the market where the average load is 23 GW,” Rystad Energy’s David Dixon said.

Plans to build a new electricity transmission link between Tasmania and mainland Australia have progressed with Marinus Link Pty Ltd lodging a development application for a converter station to be built in Tasmania’s northwest.

Solar and wind are being installed at a rate that is three times faster than all other new electricity sources combined. This offers compelling market-based evidence that PV and wind are now the most competitive and practical methods for deploying new generating capacity.

Owners of rooftop solar arrays in Victoria could soon get almost nothing for exporting their excess power into the grid with the Essential Services Commission releasing a draft decision that would slash payments in response to the rapid uptake of the technology.

Renewable energy developer Acen Australia is seeking federal government approval for a 100 MW solar facility and an 180 MW battery energy storage system to be built near Cooma in the New South Wales Snowy Mountains region.

The Australian Energy Market Commission has released a final determination to allow virtual power plants to compete directly with large-scale generators in the energy market, scheduled to begin in 2027.

The government of Western Australia has announced seven successful project bids in round three of its clean energy future fund scheme, including two First Nations renewable energy projects that will share $5.5 million from a $16 million pool.

Researchers from four Australian universities have released a new paper questioning why solar microgrids are not ‘the norm’ in remote Central Australia, while energy insecurity prevails in very remote Aboriginal households.