Oceania

Des Hang on the three main doubts that still linger around Australia’s burgeoning electric vehicle (EV) industry.

Queensland Pacific Metals announced it has secured all of the key approvals required for it to build its $2.1 billion (USD 1.41 billion) battery materials plant within the Lansdown Eco-Industrial Precinct near Townsville in northern Queensland.

A new player has entered the Australian renewable energy sector with New Zealand-based infrastructure investor Infratil confirming that its new majority-owned clean energy platform Mint Renewables will look at wind, solar and energy storage opportunities with an initial investment of $300 million (USD 203 million).

Controlling the crystallisation process of perovskite thin films is one of the most challenging aspects for upscaling the solar technology but a team of Australian researchers claims to have made a breakthrough, creating next-generation PV cells that have the potential to rival the durability of silicon alternatives.

Perth-based Provaris Energy said it is moving forward with its compressed H2 carrier, while Princeton University researchers have published a study on how the transition to hydrogen-based energy systems would affect the tropospheric burdens of methane and hydrogen.

Queensland government-owned generator Stanwell Energy and Japan’s largest hydrogen supplier Iwatani Corporation are preparing to commence a Front-End Engineering Design study as they drive towards a final investment decision on a 3 GW green hydrogen project being developed near Gladstone on the central Queensland coast.

With Australia’s renewable energy share set to reach 82% by 2030, researchers from the Australian National University have launched a new online tool designed to identify the best possible locations for the development of new large-scale wind and solar farms.

Australian modular solar manufacturer 5B has secured a $20 million (USD 13.7 million) investment from the venture arm of British energy giant bp which will allow it to accelerate the development of its preassembled and relocatable modular solar technology.

Moving with Australia’s Zeitgeist, Stuart Parry, managing director of Energy Storage Industries, is working to bring battery manufacturing onto Australian shores – and his approach is, if not novel, certainly well advanced. “It’s about being smart in how we do it,” Parry tells pv magazine Australia.

Two of Australia’s key mechanisms for delivering the country to its climate commitments went into review in 2022 with the change of federal government. Australia’s carbon credit scheme and its Safeguard Mechanism, which aims to drive down emissions from Australia’s biggest polluters, are both inextricably linked and infuriatingly opaque. With those reviews to be handed down shortly, pv magazine Australia offers a brief recap on where we’re at.