News

India’s renewable energy sector, having so far focused almost solely on adding more generation capacity with ever lower tariffs, is undergoing a drastic change, as policy pivots toward domestic manufacturing. Vinay Rustagi, managing director of Bridge to India, looks at how the border conflict with China and endless supply side disruptions in the wake of Covid-19 have together strengthened the Indian government’s resolve to support the establishment of a more localised supply chain.

AGL Energy – Australia’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases – announced this week it will shut the Loy Yang A power station in Victoria’s LaTrobe Valley in 2035, a decade earlier than planned.

Australia’s first zinc-bromide battery production line has commenced operations with Gelion Technologies launching a manufacturing facility in Western Sydney capable of producing 2 MWh of batteries annually.

Fotowatio Renewable Ventures has unveiled plans to deliver its first standalone battery energy storage system in Australia, announcing it will build a 100 MW/200 MWh big battery in Victoria’s southwest after securing $7 million in funding from the state government.

Australia’s car manufacturing industry could be restarted as the federal government considers ways to increase the affordability, supply and uptake of electric vehicle technologies.

Australia’s largest floating solar PV array is being installed in Victoria with Wannon Water announcing it will deploy a 500 kw system near the coastal city of Warrnambool as part of the state-government owned utility’s plans reduce its electricity costs and lower emissions.

Australian energy regulators have called for urgent investments in renewable energy capacity and the transmission infrastructure needed to connect new projects to the grid as they look to ensure an orderly transition as coal-fired generation exits the National Electricity Market.

Dalian Rongke Power has connected a 100 MW redox flow battery storage system to the grid in Dalian, China. It will start operating in mid-October and will eventually be scaled up to 200 MW. The vanadium redox flow battery technology was developed by a division of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Australia’s largest electricity generator AGL Energy is accelerating its exit from coal, announcing it will shut down the Loy Yang A power plant in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley a decade earlier than planned, with the company aiming to abandon coal completely by 2035.

The release of Queensland’s $62 billion energy and jobs plan which would shift the state away from coal power by 2035 has been broadly welcomed but the resources sector has warned the government has plenty of work to do to attract the large-scale investment required to implement the strategy.