Australia

A renewable hydrogen target will spur massive investment, bringing the cost of the ‘God Molecule’ down the cost curve, and helping to secure Australia’s future in this century of decarbonisation.

Global infrastructure developer AECOM has run analysis on every petroleum fuel refinery and storage & import terminal in Australia and New Zealand as a novel means of locating sites well suited to future renewable development and hydrogen industries. “Some sites that were really suited to a wide range of end uses and those were our so-called ‘unicorn sites,’” AECOM’s Craig Bearsley told pv magazine Australia.

The federal government has awarded $5 million to the CSIRO to deliver a hydrogen research, development and demonstration program aimed at strengthening hydrogen knowledge both domestically and in cooperation with our international partners.

To truly seize on the opportunity afforded by the imminent battery boom, Australia needs to look beyond its historic role as a supplier of raw materials and broaden the horizons by adding value with downstream products and manufacturing, according to a recent Future Battery Industries report. Pv magazine Australia caught up with Vincent Algar, managing director of Australian Vanadium Limited – a company operating in this promising yet thorny realm.

Lumea is planning the first big battery to be financed without any government support at Melbourne’s Deer Park Energy Hub.

Gannawarra Solar Farm, Victoria’s first large-scale solar farm integrated with a big battery, has forayed into the world of agrisolar by integrating sheep grazing on site. The sheep are reportedly loving the shade offered by the panels, which has allowed them to graze even during the hottest parts of the day, with the animals unperturbed by the solar farm’s tracking devices.

New modelling by researchers at Monash University has found the cost of green hydrogen produced using solar PV could satisfy the Australian Government’s economic stretch goal of $2 per kilogram by as early as 2030.

Australian renewable energy developer Maoneng has lodged plans to construct a ‘critical’ 225 MW/450 MWh utility scale battery energy storage system at Gould Creek in South Australia.

The Australian Energy Regulator says maintaining a reliable energy supply shapes as a “pivotal challenge” with the nation’s record take-up of rooftop solar PV and investment in large-scale renewables transforming the way the energy market operates.

The research group led by Professor Martin Green has published Version 58 of the Solar cell efficiency tables. He spoke with pv magazine about the criteria with which these tables are compiled and the importance of result certification by independent third parties.