New South Wales

Researchers from UNSW say they have found a commercially viable pathway to the decentralised production of green, renewable ammonia. An alternative to the traditional Haber-Bosch method, the researchers used nanosecond pulsed plasma bubbles coupled with electrocatalysis.

Australian energy storage startup Green Gravity will explore opportunities to deploy its gravitational energy storage technology in Europe after inking an agreement with the Romanian state-owned energy company Complexul Energetic Valea Jiului SA.

Researchers from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) have used advanced neutron scattering techniques to better understand what leads to catastrophic failures in lithium ion batteries.

Sydney startup AMSL Aero has been awarded $5.43 million by ARENA to develop a hydrogen-powered electric aircraft capable of taking off and landing vertically. The startup has previously flown a battery-only prototype, but says adding a hydrogen fuel cell will increase the range to 1000km.

A council on the NSW South Coast is prioritising the reuse of solar panels, partnering with a volunteer community group to either gift or resell the panels locally.

The first of 50 pole mounted electric vehicle (EV) chargers have been powered up in Sydney as part of an ARENA project with Intellihub. The project is seeking to provide infrastructure for those locked out of the EV market, as well as understand regulatory and commercial barriers for public EV charging and V2G charging.

New South Wales network operator Ausgrid has switched on the second community battery rolled out under an Australian government national funding program that has sparked an “overwhelming” response with more than $3.5 billion (USD 2.28 billion) of projects seeking funding.

Ground-mounted PV is increasingly being investigated not only as a renewable generator, but as shelter for crops and creatures under fire from climate change. Last week’s All Energy conference handed the mike to some pioneers in the field.

SunDrive Solar, a Sydney-based startup working to replace the silver in solar cells with copper, has been allocated $11 million (USD 7 million) by ARENA to expand its metallised cell production to a commercial scale of more than 100 MW per annum. Few details or timeframes for the scaling have been provided, however.

Australian hydrogen technology company Star Scientific has inked an agreement to establish a joint research and manufacturing facility in the United States as it seeks to expand the market for its heat reaction technology that utilises renewable hydrogen to rapidly create heat for industrial applications.