Northern Territory

Virtual power plants have turned a corner in this country, SwitchDin founder, Andrew Mears tells pv magazine Australia. With the new technology now firmly established, we take a look at the new approaches to orchestration which will inform the next wave of distributed energy resources management.

Indigenous communities have some of the most unreliable, expensive power in Australia, with a recent study finding almost three quarters of households in remote Northern Territory communities lost power more than 10 times, often for significant periods on “dangerously” hot days. Alarmingly, regulations have until now completely blocked communities in public housing from connecting rooftop solar because they use a prepaid meter system.

A $15 billion green hydrogen project that utilises solar powered water-from-air technology to save on the cost of hydrogen generation and save the precious water resources of arid regions, has received Major Project Status from the Northern Territory government and aims to be in commercial production by 2023.

Hitachi Energy has won Northern Territory Labor’s tender for the Darwin-Katherine ‘Big Battery’, which is expected to unlock more capacity for residential and industrial PV, generate cost savings of $9.8 million and pay for itself in approximately five years.

Compressed hydrogen ship maker Global Energy Ventures will develop a 2.8 GW green hydrogen export project on the Tiwi Islands, off the coast of the Northern Territory. It says the project will demonstrate the simplicity and efficiency of compressed hydrogen for Asia-Pacific supply chains, and will of course use a fleet of its own hydrogen-powered and hydrogen carrying 430-tonne ships.

Singapore-based Sun Cable has unveiled a powerhouse line-up of international engineering and advisory companies to help it deliver the world’s biggest solar PV and battery energy storage project being developed in Australia’s remote far north.

The world’s biggest solar PV and storage project has suffered a setback after a Singapore electricity retailer which had lined up to be a foundation customer for the renewable energy generated by Australia’s $26 billion Sun Cable project announced it will cease operations amid a record-breaking spike in electricity prices.

The Australian-Singapore group behind a proposed 20 GW solar PV farm and 42 GWh battery energy storage project being developed in Australia’s remote far north has hinted other, similar-sized projects are already in the pipeline.

The world’s biggest solar PV and storage project is set to get even larger with the Singapore-based Sun Cable announcing it plans to increase the renewable energy generation and storage capacity of the $26 billion Australia-ASEAN Power Link being developed in northern Australia.

Work on the Jabiru Hybrid Renewable Project – featuring solar PV and battery energy storage – has achieved another milestone with project developer Energy Developments Limited confirming clearing works for the power plant being built in the World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park are now complete.