Grids & Integration

French renewables developer Neoen is pushing ahead with plans to construct a 157 MW wind farm and 100 MW battery project in Queensland’s far north just weeks after federal resources minister Keith Pitt blocked public funding for the project.

Funded by a United States’ Department of Energy grant, the project will evaluate Malta Inc.’s thermal energy storage system as a viable, scalable solution.

In 2020, Anson Zhang, the CEO of Australia’s largest solar distributor, One Stop Warehouse, launched Discover Energy – entering the electricity retail space. The decision, Zhang told pv magazine Australia, confused many. Why would a company dominating solar supplies pivot to retailing. The simple answer: data.

Solar Citizens has warned the Australian Energy Market Commission’s controversial proposal to make solar PV owners pay to export their surplus production to the grid could send the National Electricity Market into a ‘death spiral’.

A new South Australian big battery will show the value of deploying diverse storage technologies in the NEM. Matt Harper calls pv magazine Australia from Canada, to talk tech.

Queensland is likely to join Victoria in dissension on the Australian Energy Market Commission’s draft determination which is being called a tax on solar. The Queensland Energy Minister, Mick de Brenni, has criticised the plan. Could this be the domino which brings the other states and territories falling into place against a rule change?

In its first briefing following the publication of its Post 2025 Market Design Options Paper, the Energy Security Board’s Independent Chair, Dr Kerry Schott, spoke candidly about what will inevitably be a “messy” transition to renewables.

Microgrids afford an opportunity to essentially become a power station operator. That opportunity, says Dr Adrian Panow, the Director of Deakin’s Energy Initiative, unearths a number of urgent questions ranging from the technical all the way to the ethical. They are questions cross-faculty researchers at Deakin University, now home to a sizeable microgrid, plan to interrogate.

Victoria’s Andrews Government has launched a battery aggregation pilot program which seeks to build an “approved aggregation provider list” alongside the Solar Homes battery rebate. The Victorian Government sees the future of virtual power plants and microgrids and this is an opportunity for both consumers and providers to benefit.

Elvin Group Renewables has constructed a 5 MWh Tesla Megapack to help ensure stability of energy supply in Canberra’s new northern suburbs and the wider grid. Its plans to proliferate the model are audacious.