Research

Less than a year ago and energy market analysts Cornwall Insight Australia projected a battery energy storage pipeline of 7 GW. This week the firm has updated its outlook and puts Australia’s current pipeline of proposed projects at over 26 GW. What is more, the technical lifetime of these assets is increasing too.

Integrating solar into Australia’s natural gas industry could reduce onshore gas facilities’ emissions by 19% in Western Australia, 18% in Queensland, and 21% in the Northern Territory, according to research conducted by National Energy Resources Australia (NERA).

Underground hydrogen storage seems to be coming up a lot lately, and with the burgeoning hydrogen industry needing somewhere to store itself, it’s not hard to understand why. One of the countries with the best credentials for the future hydrogen economy is Australia. A newly published report has quantified the country’s “massive opportunity” for underground hydrogen storage.

Queensland government-owned utility Ergon Energy has opened the doors to a new $6 million “world-class” research and development hub designed to accelerate the integration of renewable energy technology including microgrids and standalone power systems into the state’s electricity network.

A report from Australia’s Future Battery Industries Cooperative Research Centre which analysed the development of battery hubs in the U.S., Germany and Japan, has found that co-location and cooperation between industry and government were key to hub success. For Australia to play the same game, it will have to leverage its wealth of resources, and clean up its act along the way.

A new study from researchers at the universities of Lancaster and Reading in the UK has managed to quantify the economic boost provided by the symbiotic relationship between solar farms and honeybee hives.

Scientists in the United States have developed a method to compare the performance and number of defects in different perovskite cell materials. Based on simulations and work with prototype materials, the group finds that all-inorganic materials have higher potential efficiency than their more widely researched organic-inorganic counterparts.

With some of the world’s largest solar PV module manufacturers warning of looming panel shortages, Australian researchers have declared a new generation of cheap, sustainable and efficient solar cells is now a step closer.

Closed-loop pumped-hydro storage offers more chances to minimise environmental effects on water sources and overcomes the problem of finding suitable sites. According to an Australian research team, closed-loop systems could prevail on open-loop systems in the future and this trend is confirmed by another group of scientists from the United States.

Solar cell production could consume every ounce of the world’s known silver reserves within a few years. One industry guru and his UNSW colleagues have set out the case for carefully considering what happens next.