Northern Territory

The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) has proposed increasing price caps on the country’s main electricity market. This is meant to allow investors to respond to fill gaps created by ageing coal generation.

Data shows a sharp increase in the number of fires caused by the DC isolators that separate the grid from solar panels. ABC News gathered state-by-state data revealing a dramatic increase in fire incidents in the last 12 months. 

SunCable’s sale to Mike Cannon-Brookes’ Grok Ventures has today been completed, with the company flagging new project elements, including a subsea cable manufacturing and testing facility, as well as reiterating its vision of delivering bulk energy to Singapore via undersea cables.

Victorian company Proa says it has found a software-driven solution to the grid connection rules which have crippled solar projects in the Northern Territory. Requiring only a fractional amount of battery storage, the solution “replaces lithium with smarts” and effectively enables solar to be “scheduled,” Managing Director Victor Depoorter tells pv magazine Australia.

Desert Springs Octopus has announced three solar and storage projects between 150 MW and 10 MW for the Northern Territory which it will pursue in partnership with First Nations groups, the Larrakia Nation and Jawoyn Association.

Northern Territory government-owned Jacana Energy has opened a tender calling for the private sector to submit proposals to build up to 100 MW of utility scale PV and 30 MW/30 MWh of grid-forming battery energy storage in the Darwin-Katherine region.

The Northern Territory’s largest energy retailer is seeking expressions of interest from local, national and international proponents for the supply of up to 100 MW of large-scale solar for the Darwin-Katherine electricity grid.

Traditional owners in the Northern Territory have teamed up with South Korean power provider Korea Midland Power and a Perth-based renewables company to progress plans for a 300 MW solar farm to be developed on land adjacent to the Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct on Darwin harbour.

Western Australian renewables company Provaris Energy has advanced its Tiwi H2 green hydrogen export project planned for the Tiwi Islands in the Northern Territory with the design feasibility report for the proposed solar farm and transmission system now complete.

Over 3.4 million Australian houses now have rooftop solar, often subsidised by government incentives. But in remote First Nations communities in the Northern Territory, you don’t see solar on any rooftops. That’s a real problem.