Oceania

The ball is rolling on the Australian government’s pending Capacity Investment Scheme Tender 2 focussing on the Western Australian Wholesale Electricity Market and which seeks an indicative target of 500 MW of four-hour equivalent dispatchable capacity, or 2,000 MWh.

The roll out of rooftop solar in Australia has slowed with a total of 248 MW of new capacity registered across the country in June, a 14% decline on the previous month and the lowest tally since January.

Australian flow battery specialist Redflow has struck a partnership with Queensland state-owned generation company Stanwell to work together on the development of a non-lithium long-duration battery energy storage solution for use in a 400 MWh project.

Renewables developer Lodestone Energy will build a 220 MW solar farm on one of New Zealand’s iconic high-country grazing properties with the landowners targeting the PV facility to help rehabilitate redundant land.

Scientists from Australia’s national science agency and the electricity research and development arm of global tech giant Google have developed a new ‘smart’ inverter they claim is almost twice as fast and about 50% more efficient than existing commercial inverters.

The Northern Territory government has detailed plans to convert one of the gas-fired turbines at the Channel Island power station to operate as a synchronous condenser as a new report reveals the Territory’s electricity system is in a “prime but precarious” position.

Chinese manufacturer Sigenergy has launched a new modular energy storage solution that combines a hybrid inverter and battery pack with a built-in energy management system. The inverter series offers a range of power options from 50 kW to 110 kW.

The Australian government has beefed up its commitment to community batteries to support the integration of renewable energy in the grid with more than 420 battery energy storage systems to be installed in neighbourhoods across the country as part of its Community Batteries for Household Solar program.

The Maryvale solar and battery hybrid project being developed in central western New South Wales in one of two renewables projects with a combined generation capacity of 312 MW that have secured long-term energy service agreements through the state government’s latest tender round.

A proposed 10 GW renewables-based hydrogen production facility to be developed in the Northern Territory by Climate Impact Corporation will include an upstream Darwin-based electrolyser and atmospheric water generator manufacturing facility.