Grids & Integration

Kalgoorlie-Boulder, in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia (WA), is set to receive the region’s first community battery. The WA Government-owned utility Western Power is looking to smooth out peak load periods by integrating the Tesla battery into the network.

A national Technology Investment Roadmap, which is intended to drive a successful shift to secure, more affordable energy and lower emissions, has flagged support for new gas investments, carbon capture and storage, and “emerging nuclear technologies”. The long-awaited document has prompted a flurry of reactions.

The Palaszczuk Government is providing funding to accelerate a $1.5 billion transmission link stretching from Townsville to Mount Isa in North Queensland in a bid to stimulate large-scale solar and wind investment and underpin the creation of local battery industry.

The unique solar, wind, and battery project has been completed at Gold Fields’ Agnew Gold Mine, marking Australia’s largest hybrid microgrid of its kind.

The University of Queensland has released a performance report on the Tesla Powerpack it installed in December 2019. Across a range of revenue streams, the Powerpack is already earning the university some serious cash.

Lockhart in New South Wales will become the poster child for hybrid renewable generation plus storage, with a new system designed to attract high-energy industries to its low-cost electricity.

Much has been made of the Covid-19 lockdown cutting global carbon emissions. Energy use has fallen over recent months as the pandemic keeps millions of people confined to their homes, and businesses closed in many countries. Projections suggest global emissions could be around 5% lower in 2020 than last year.

The Australian Energy Market Commission is hoping to gather evidence from industry on how they would be affected by the potential delay of the five-minute settlement start date by one year.

To help achieve its global-leading renewable energy target of 200% by 2040, the Tasmanian government has released the draft Renewable Energy Action Plan.

With the race to find cheap, efficient, non-polluting ways of generating and storing hydrogen, a new study aims to set out a roadmap for navigating the pathway towards the establishment of a large-scale technology and supply chain based on ammonia.