New South Wales

Australian climate tech platform Acacia will launch a new solar feature enabling customers to get a digital solar quote, as well as estimated financial and carbon savings, without speaking to any sales people. The company says the tool is in response to what are often poor buying experiences in the solar sector.

Construction has now begun on the 93 MW Girgarre Solar Farm in central Victoria, about 70 kilometres west of Shepparton. The project has been in development for at least five years, and was initiated by Leeson Group’s founder and director, Peter Leeson, before being sold to Enel Green Power in 2019.

With the challenges associated with solar waste becoming increasingly significant, the New South Wales government has released an issues paper seeking to identify new economic value in the renewable energy transition while also ensuring the rollout of clean energy technologies is as environmentally sustainable as possible.

Australian energy giant AGL is advancing its exit from coal with Delta Group awarded the contract to demolish the Liddell Power Station as the site is prepared for transformation into a clean energy hub dominated by a 500 MW/2 GWh grid-connected battery energy storage system.

Shell Energy has acquired the development rights for a 500 MW / 1000 MWh battery located at the former Wallerawang coal power station site, near Lithgow in the Central Tablelands region of New South Wales.

Major shopping centre landlord, Vicinity Centres, has teamed up with Enel X to potentially deploy up to 50 MWh of cumulative energy storage capacity. The partnership kicks off with two battery fit outs in Victoria and New South Wales, and follows a $73.2 million (USD 50 million) solar rollout across Vicinity’s shopping centres.

New research from the University of New South Wales outlines the need for solar cell and module makers to reduce or eliminate the use of silver in their products. Based on expected PV growth, in line with climate change commitments, solar manufacturers would require at least 85% of global silver reserves, according to the new study.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency’s recent funding spree has continued after it awarded a further $1.04 million (USD 700,000) to the University of Wollongong for a project that will look to develop national standards for harmonic compliance assessments. The current and rather ad hoc methodologies are proving incapable of addressing the challenges brought with increased renewable energy integration.

The New South Wales government aims to “turbocharge” the state’s transition from coal and gas to a renewables-based grid with a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 70% in little more than a decade on the pathway to net zero emissions by 2050.

The New South Wales government has declared the Illawarra region on the state’s south coast is set to become a renewable energy and clean manufacturing powerhouse after outlining plans for a coordinated renewable energy zone that will deliver at least 1 GW of new network capacity as the state transitions from fossil fuels to renewable energy.