Australia

Energy consultancy Xodus Group has announced plans to develop an export-scale green hydrogen project in the Mid-West region of Western Australia which will scale up to 1 GW of electrolyser capacity.

Australia’s only solar panel manufacturer, Tindo Solar, has announced a doubling of sales for both solar panels and battery storage in recent months. The manufacturer attributes the boom to the concatenation of rising energy costs, a potential recession, and increasing consumer awareness about the importance of buying quality products.

Authorities have provided developer CWP Renewables with the tick of approval for what will be the first big battery in Australia to be added to an existing wind or solar farm with the same connection point in the National Electricity Market.

With Australia’s energy system rapidly transitioning from a traditional dependency on coal-fired power generation towards a future built on renewables, the market operator has detailed the engineering roadmap required for the country’s main power systems to operate on 100% renewable energy more frequently and for longer periods.

A holiday house in New South Wales is thought to be the first residential property in Australia to make the switch to a hybrid solar and green hydrogen standalone power system with network service provider Essential Energy trialling the off-grid technology.

Woodside says it has secured an agreement with the traditional owners for land on which it plans to build the first 50 MW stage of what could eventually expand to be a 500 MW solar power plant in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

The Queensland government’s push for 70% of the state’s energy supply to come from renewables by 2032 has received a boost with the completed 162 MW Columboola Solar Farm in the state’s Western Downs region now sending renewable energy to the grid.

Australian renewables developer Energy Estate has signed a consortium of “globally recognised partners” to accelerate the development of a large-scale green hydrogen and ammonia production and export facility in north Queensland.

Resource-sector heavyweight Rio Tinto is planning to invest $600 million (USD 402 million) building two new solar farms and battery energy storage systems in the Pilbara region of Western Australia as part of the company’s efforts to decarbonise its iron ore operations.

In a decidedly confusing announcement, Swedish molten aluminium storage startup Azelio says it has secured a conditional order from relatively unknown Australian company MPG Built. Azelio says the order will see it provide “energy-as-a-service” using five of its TES.POD storage units combined with solar power.