Oceania

Geelong is set to become home to a $300 million (USD 210 million) lithium-ion battery gigafactory. Recharge Industries, part of a portfolio from US fund Scale Facilitation, is aiming to start construction by the end of the year, targeting 2 GWh of production annually in 2024 and 6 GWh by 2026. The company is reportedly aiming to produce batteries without using Chinese materials, and appears to be part of a deepening supply chain play between Australia and the US.

The Australian government has unveiled a $70 million (USD 49 million) investment to aid the development of a green hydrogen hub in the north Queensland city of Townsville as it looks unlock the benefits of an industry which it says could inject an additional $50 billion (USD 35 billion) into the economy by 2050.

Sun Cable – considered to be the world’s biggest renewable energy export project – announced on Wednesday it had entered voluntary administration following “the absence of alignment” with shareholders.

Energy management software company SwitchDin will share lessons learned during Australia’s ongoing transition to a two-way power grid with counterparts in the United States after teaming with a coalition of companies to scale up the use of virtual power plants.

Following Risen Energy’s January announcement that the company is starting to mass-produce its n-type heterojunction technology (HJT) hyper-ion solar modules, it has revealed plans to increase production capacity to 15 GW by the end of 2023. Archie Chen, CEO of Risen Energy Australia, says n-type HJT panels will prove the favoured technology over the coming years, facilitating higher performing solar solutions.

Perovskite solar cells have created excitement in recent years, given their potential to improve virtually every area of PV, but we have yet to see such devices produced at scale. Scientists in Australia have outlined some of the challenges holding them back.

Australia’s capacity to achieve its renewable energy targets is under a cloud with a report published by the federal government-funded Reliable Affordable Clean Energy for 2030 Cooperative Research Centre warning a shortage of workers could cripple the electricity sector transition.

The benefits of microgrid technologies will be explored by the Queensland government as it seeks to improve the resilience and reliability of electricity supply for remote and regional communities with an initial $10 million (USD 6.8 million) allocated to support the development of a pipeline of microgrid projects across the state.

Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen has used the official launch of Australian PV panel maker Tindo Solar’s $11 million production and innovation facility in South Australia as an opportunity to highlight the importance of developing a domestic solar panel manufacturing industry.

The Northern Territory government remains upbeat about the future of the $30 billion-plus (USD 20.7 billion) Australia-Asia PowerLink project despite the company behind what would be the world’s biggest solar and energy storage project having abruptly entered voluntary administration.