Oceania

New South Wales is seeking 2,500 GWh of annual generation and 600 MW of long-duration storage for its first tender, part of realising its ambitious NSW Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap.

Brisbane-based bioenergy company LGI Limited has listed on the ASX, seeking to raise $25 million for expansions, including fitting sites with batteries capable of playing on spot markets. For the company’s founder, Adam Bloomer, the role of bioenergy in Australia only makes real sense when limited to waste. “If it’s is not a waste stream, I think you’re barking up the wrong tree,” he tells pv magazine Australia.

Australian gas company APA Group has signed a third offtake agreement for its 88 MW Mica Creek Solar Farm, currently under construction in Queensland’s mining hub.

Aspiring green hydrogen manufacturer Countrywide Hydrogen will explore solar-to-hydrogen co-development opportunities in the island state of Tasmania after inking a deal with large-scale solar PV and battery energy storage specialist Wirsol Energy, which already operates a portfolio of Australian projects with a combined capacity of more than 720 MW.

The New South Wales government has announced funding for five pumped hydro schemes spread across the state as it looks to deliver large-scale energy storage and firming capacity to allow for an increased uptake of renewable energy and to help plug the gap left by exiting coal-fired generation.

Australian solar technology company SunDrive continues to impress with its copper-based solar cell technology, achieving 26.41% efficiency for a full-size silicon cell using mass-production compatible heterojunction technology.

Haystacks, Australia’s first large-scale solar garden, to be built in the New South Wales Riverina region, has opened its solar “plots” to purchase for NSW households unable to install rooftop systems.

West Australian company Technology Metals Australia, or TMT, will work with the government-backed Future Battery Industries agency to develop enhanced electrolytes for vanadium redox flow batteries. TMT will provide both the feedstock for the research as well as funding and hopes to eventually leverage the project’s findings.

As Australia’s Climate Change Bill 2022 progresses through parliament, a Senate committee has recommended using wood waste from native forests to generate electricity should no longer be classified as “renewable energy.” It is not yet clear what impact such changes would have on the growing pipeline of Australian ‘biomass’ projects.

Spanish power and gas provider Naturgy has acquired its first PV project in Australia – the Cunderdin hybrid solar + storage project east of Perth in WA. The project is set to be the country’s largest DC-coupled project to date.