Oceania

The Australian government’s green bank has identified small- to medium-sized renewable energy generation projects as a key focus, tripling its existing mandate with specialist fund manager Infradebt in a move designed to drive investment in the space which it said has traditionally suffered from a funding “gap”.

Solar and battery retailers in Victoria will have to abide by a new consumer protection standards after the state government announced it will mandate a new stronger code that builds on the previous guidelines and expands them to include new energy technology including electric vehicle chargers.

Construction of a 100 MW/200 MWh battery energy storage system being built near Chinchilla in Queensland’s Western Downs region is now being finalised with CS Energy confirming that the last of the 80 Tesla Megapack units for the project have been delivered and installed.

A long-term power purchasing agreement utilising the 174 MW Wellington Solar Farm will deliver enough clean energy to allow the assets and facilities of two of Australia’s largest zoos to be powered by 100% renewable electricity seven years ahead of schedule.

Researchers from Massey University in New Zealand have developed a robotic lawn mower with three 50 W solar panels and a 20 Ah lithium-iron-phosphate (LiFePO4) battery. Two of the PV panels can be retracted and stacked inside the robot. They slide out when it needs to recharge its batteries.

Fortescue Future Industries has unveiled its in-house PEM electrolyser prototype just months after US company Plug Power pulled the plug on its FFI partnership.

Western Australian startup International Graphite says its proposed graphite processing plant in Collie has been found to have “outstanding” economics by its new scoping study. Graphite is a vital element in lithium-ion batteries and International Graphite is one of a handful of Australian companies working to move its processing onto Australian shores.

Greek renewables developer Mytilineos has acquired a 15% stake in the Rosedale Green Hydrogen project, which aims to build a 800 MW solar farm next to a 560 MW hydrogen production plant at roughly the midpoint between Melbourne and Sydney on a major trucking corridor.

The grass below the 110 MW Beryl Solar Farm in central New South Wales caught fire on Monday, April 24, and was brought under control by emergency services that same afternoon. While the damage is still being assessed, a spokesperson said the unaffected areas of the solar farm will be brought back online today, April 26.

The chair of a new think tank that is pushing for Australia to accelerate the rollout of renewables and become a global clean energy superpower believes the world’s shift towards green energy is a bigger opportunity for the nation than the resources boom.