Australia

The Federal Government this week introduced its hotly awaited climate change bill to parliament. Despite the attention and controversy it’s attracted, the proposed legislation – as it stands – would be almost entirely symbolic.

Australia is setting out to become a global hydrogen superpower – but the standards we’re applying to classify ‘green’ renewable hydrogen are falling well behind our global peers and the expectations of future customers. The heart of the problem is “we’ve separated the characteristics of energy from the energy itself,” Steve Hoy, founder and CEO of power tracing technology company Enosi, tells pv magazine Australia.

South Australia’s 150 MW / 193.5 Hornsdale Power Reserve, more commonly known as the Tesla Big Battery, will now provide inertia services to Australia’s National Electricity Market after securing approval from AEMO. Neoen says it is the first big battery in the world to deliver the service at such a scale.

Melbourne’s Monash University will conduct a $1.18 million study into alternative market designs which better support energy storage technologies and drive clearer investment signals.

Energy efficient homes, like those with solar panels, fetch, on average, a premium of over 17% in Australia – though that figure grows to 28.9% in Queensland and 24% in Victoria, according to a report from real estate company Domain.

Rooftop solar installations may now be conducted by multiple installers, the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) announced today. The rule change will afford companies more flexibility as CER continues tightening its surveillance of the rooftop industry.

Australian renewable energy and storage developer Genex Power has confirmed it is the target of a takeover bid having received an unsolicited offer of more than $300 million from a consortium of private equity firms led by Australian technology billionaire Scott Farquhar’s Skip Capital.

The Australian Capital Territory government has firmed its commitment to deliver one of the largest battery storage systems in the Southern Hemisphere to support Canberra’s energy grid and the continued uptake of renewables with funding allocated in the upcoming budget to progress the Big Canberra Battery project.

Having established a strong foothold in the Australian market with its solar PV panels, Chinese manufacturer JinkoSolar is now seeking to expand its influence in the energy storage space with the launch of its modular Suntank home battery storage system.

Australian energy major AGL has announced that Victoria’s largest hydropower scheme will undergo a $40 million expansion in a move designed to improve energy security and help support the state’s continued uptake of renewables.