Oceania

Renewable energy, Singapore-based infrastructure developer Equis Australia and the State Electricity Commission (SEC) for Victoria have closed landmark $400 million (USD261 million) in debt financing for the construction of Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub’s 200 MW/800 MWh A3 battery energy storage system (BESS).

The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) has called for the establishment of a $2 billion (USD1.3 billion) national fund to retrofit and electrify low-income homes with solar, to reduce energy bills, minimise poverty, and make progress towards Australia’s emissions reduction targets.

The QLD Battery Booster program opened today to applicants. The rebate program will provide grants of up to $4,000 for a residential battery system. The $24 million (USD15.75 million) program is limited and will accept applications until the funding is exhausted.

A little over one week ago, a collection of anti-renewable energy protesters rolled into Canberra, calling for a slowdown – if not halt – in renewable energy development. Attendees to the Rally Against Reckless Renewables also conveyed messages on vaccines and the World Health Organisation, the “Great Reset”, the United Nations, and other conspiracy minded themes.

Li-S Energy has announced the commissioning of manufacturing equipment in its Phase 3, 2 MWh production facility at Geelong, allowing the company to scale up manufacturing of their lithium sulfur and lithium metal batteries.

While facilitating utility-scale solar farms co-existence with agricultural land near transmission networks is an ongoing challenge in Australia, in Southeast Asia similar problems is resulting in the growth of floating PV (FPV) installations.

The first report from the Clean Energy Regulator’s new solar module testing program have been released, revealing that most modules were “generally found to be of good quality.” Slightly over 10% of the modules tested failed electroluminescent (EL) testing as a result of either manufacturing or handling and transportation damage.

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen has accused the Liberal and National parties of fomenting community opposition to renewable energy development, in a webinar hosted by Smart Energy Council today. Bowen warned the “fight isn’t over the and stakes are very high,” at the next election for Australia’s energy transition.

Energy forecasting and managing company Proa is rolling out its technology at two Northern Territory (NT) defence facility solar farms, with positive implications for scheduling solar energy commitments with certainty.

As Australia’s rooftop solar wracks up records, price cannibalisation has resulted in a “struggling” large scale market segment. Victoria University’s Energy Policy Centre head Bruce Mountain says that increasingly depressed wholesale electricity prices during the day is squeezing out big PV.