Grids & Integration

The New South Wales government’s plans to develop a renewable energy zone in the state’s central west is one step closer to fruition following the release of the scoping report for the transmission infrastructure required to connect at least 3 GW of new renewable energy generation capacity to the grid.

Transmission network operator Transgrid is counting on technology developed in the United States to increase the capacity for the bidirectional flow of energy between Australia’s most populous states with works on the Victoria to New South Wales Interconnector upgrade project nearing completion.

Solar-wind hybrid plants are rapidly becoming mainstream, and in booming markets like India and the US these hybrids are increasingly preferred to singular projects despite the higher installation cost. There is no shortage to the benefits of hybridisation, from a smoother power output profile to the cost saving of grid connection. But getting the balance right for new projects and retrofits remains a challenge. Blake Matich reports on this growing trend.

The Australian Energy Market Operator warns every Australian jurisdiction in the national grid could see electricity demand outstripping supply within the decade – though only if anticipated renewable projects do not come to fruition.

Australia’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation has identified transmission and grid infrastructure as a key focus as it looks to build upon more than $10 billion of clean energy commitments in its first decade of investments.

Brisbane Airport Corporation is set to expand its use of artificial intelligence (AI) energy optimisation technology across the international airport following a successful six month trial.



Combining satellite images of Australian rooftops with those of real-time cloud cover to create accurate forecasts of distributed solar output for suburbs and perhaps even whole regions and states is the focus of a new Australian startup, Solstice AI. “We’re kind of at a point now where there’s so much solar that it’s causing all these issues but, if we can forecast it, many of these issues can be alleviated or managed much better,” the company’s cofounder and CEO, Julian de Hoog, tellspv magazine Australia.

The Australian Energy Regulator has approved more than $300 million of funding to support early works on the HumeLink project which is expected to boost overall transmission capacity in New South Wales, paving the way for gigawatts of new wind, solar PV and storage projects.

With headlines dominated by spiking electricity prices and energy security, the demand for off grid solutions in Australia is booming. “It’s starting to make financial sense, that’s significant,” Matt Miller, the marketing manager for Victorian company Commodore tells pv magazine Australia.

The Australian government’s green bank has inked a landmark agreement with the Queensland government to develop critical transmission and grid infrastructure to connect more than 1.5 GW of renewable energy assets to the National Electricity Market.