Australia

New South Wales electricity distributor Endeavour Energy has flicked the switch on the state’s first community microgrid with the rooftop solar and battery energy storage system helping to provide power certainty for the South Coast communities of Bawley Point and Kioloa.

Six green hydrogen projects with a total electrolyser capacity of more 3.5 GW have been shortlisted for the Australian government’s $2 billion (USD 1.35 billion) Hydrogen Headstart initiative that is intended to support the development of 1 GW of electrolyser capacity by 2030 through two to three “flagship” projects.

The Marinus Link power cable to be built between Victoria and Tasmania is a step closer to reality after the Australian Energy Regulator approved the project’s first revenue proposal, marking the planned early works spend as “prudent and efficient.”

Australian renewable energy company Frontier Energy has completed its acquisition of Canadian firm Waroona Energy. The companies own neighbouring large-scale solar projects in Western Australia’s southwest and intend to join forces to create the state’s largest vertically integrated renewable energy hub.

The New South Wales government has formalised its decision to double the size of Australia’s first coordinated renewable energy zone, boosting its capacity to 6 GW of solar, wind and storage in a move designed to better cater for the state’s future energy as it transitions from coal and gas to a renewables-based grid.

Australian battery and renewable energy developer Akaysha Energy continues to expand its energy storage portfolio, announcing that it has reached a final investment decision on a 205 MW / 410 MWh battery being developed in southeast Queensland.

The Australian arm of Swedish renewables heavyweight OX2 will develop a new 25 MW solar farm in the New South Wales Riverina district after signing a long-term power purchase agreement with data centre firm AirTrunk and global tech giant Google.

Ark Energy’s 275 MW/2,200 MWh lithium-iron phosphate battery to be built in northern New South Wales has been announced as one of the successful projects in the third tender conducted under the state government’s Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap. The Richmond Valley Battery Energy Storage System will likely be the biggest eight-hour lithium battery in the world when it is completed.

Australia’s largest battery with grid-forming inverter capabilities is set to go ahead with energy major AGL announcing a final investment decision on a 500 MW, two-hour duration battery being developed in the New South Wales Hunter Valley.

Five energy infrastructure projects representing 750 MW of renewable energy generation and 524 MW/4,192 MWh of long-duration storage have been successful to the New South Wales government’s latest tender round as it prepares for the exit of coal-fired power generation from the state’s electricity grid.