Australia

Australia stands at the forefront of a remarkable opportunity to revolutionise the reduction of global carbon emissions and potentially reap billions in export earnings. The key lies in harnessing green hydrogen to produce environmentally friendly alternatives such as green steel, ammonia, cement, eFuels and mining explosives.

Australian energy giant AGL will install a nickel-hydrogen battery at its Torrens Island power station site in South Australia as it seeks to explore the potential opportunities that the technology can provide for stationary energy storage applications.

Global mining giant Rio Tinto has approved a new 12.4 MW solar farm and 2.1 MWh battery energy storage system to help power its Amrun bauxite operations near Weipa in far north Queensland.

Construction of the 380 MW Aldoga Solar Farm being developed near Gladstone on the central Queensland coast is to commence in the first quarter of 2024 with energy generated at the facility to go towards powering the state’s largest green hydrogen project.

The largest shopping centre solar and battery project in Australia is now producing energy. In Sydney’s south-west airport corridor Narellan Town Centre has just completed the first stage of its solar and battery microgrid.

Australia is among more than 100 countries that have committed to triple the world’s renewable energy generation capacity within six years, signing a pledge on the sidelines of the United Nation’s COP28 climate summit being staged in the United Arab Emirates.

The Western Australian government has just allocated $220 million to support Griffin coal mine, so operations may continue until June 2026. The funding was announced by Premier Roger Cook and the Minister for Energy, Mines and Petroleum Bill Johnston, who earlier announced he is stepping down from cabinet last week.

Energy giant BP announced today it would take full ownership of solar and wind energy developer Lightsource BP once a deal – pertaining to the purchase of the remaining renewables company’s shares BP does not own – goes through next year.

Through a co-funding deal with Victoria’s newly revived SEC, Equis Development has reached financial close and begun construction on phase 1 of its giant 1.2 GW Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub. Plans for the hub, which includes gigawatt hours of storage, seem to have shifted somewhat, with phase 1 now three independent batteries of 200 MW with either two- or four-hours of storage.

A study by engineers at UNSW, published in the Renewable Energy journal, shows that aerosols and greenhouse gas emissions reduce the productivity of photovoltaic installations and that this differs according to the global region.