Oceania

With more than 50 GW of new wind and solar projects in the development pipeline, the Australian Energy Market Commission is looking to give developers more detailed and up-to-date information about new generation projects. The new draft rule may help businesses make better investment decisions on where to locate new generators and assess project viability.

Adelaide-based energy storage specialist 1414 Degrees has partnered with technical, agribusiness and finance partners including sustainable horticulture company, Nectar Farms to identify and develop projects using its thermal energy storage solution.

The quota for rebates in the August round of the Solar Homes program has been snapped up in only 90 minutes. Solar Victoria reports there are “plenty of rebates still available” for rental solar grants, solar hot water and batteries – the latter in qualifying areas only. Industry bodies say that solar sector in “crisis”.

Phillip Island Nature Parks, which manages the fairy penguin’s habitat on the island, has built a new visitor centre powered by solar energy. The 200 kW system installed by Gipplsand Solar is featuring Trina modules coupled with Fronius inverters.

Energy infrastructure company Jemena has confirmed the purchase of New South Wales’ first electrolyser which will utilise renewable energy to produce green gas for cooking, heating and hot water in homes and businesses. 

The program will test the potential of distributed energy resources, such as rooftop solar systems, battery storage and controllable load devices, aggregated into virtual power plants (VPPs), to provide scalable energy and network services traditionally performed by large-scale, conventional electricity generators. With registration open, the Australian Energy Market Operator wants VPPs to register to accelerate the shared learning on how to safely and efficiently integrate, operate and regulate these emerging technologies into the National Electricity Market.

Even though it is winter, solar capacity is now sufficiently large that it drove renewable energy’s share of the electricity market up above 30% in the middle of the day for 20 out of 30 days of June, finds Green Energy Markets.

After it deployed a record $1.3 billion into the clean energy sector in a 12-month period, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation said it will sharpen its focus on energy storage and other technologies to support the stability of the national grid.

WA’s regional utility Horizon Power will supply homes and businesses that install rooftop PV and batteries with Secure Gateway Devices (SGDs) to allow for higher penetration levels in the northwest town of Onslow. Newcastle-based SwitchIn has been selected by Horizon to supply the SGDs.

A report released by the Future Fuels CRC (FFCRC) details the work of 19 separate hydrogen roadmaps from around the world, showing the focus and drive towards a hydrogen future. While in sync in terms of forecasts suggesting large scale and rapid deployment of hydrogen technologies is expected from around 2030 onwards, the roadmaps seem to have been developed in isolation from one another, the report finds.