Oceania

Among 31 dispatchable electricity projects unveiled this week under the NSW Emerging Energy Program, utility-scale battery storage accounted for a bulk of proposals. Four big batteries have been awarded funds for pre-investment studies, and another ten have been shortlisted for capital funding.

Blue Mountains City Council has set a firm carbon neutrality target for 2025 after getting the nod from the Three Sisters. The region is quickly becoming known for its sustainability. 

The full program has been announced for the Quality Roundtable event to be held at All Energy Australia later this month in Melbourne. Real world case studies involving PID, hotspots, and backsheet failures will be discussed, as with processes for warranty claims when inverters, modules or other solar components fail.

The Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union is recommending an overhaul of policies to promote manufacturing in regional Australia along with a major push to create new jobs in a range of industries, including lithium batteries, green hydrogen and renewables.

Today, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) has switched to 100% renewable electricity as it started purchasing clean power from the last stage of South Australia’s Hornsdale Wind Farm.

iSwitch, Singapore’s largest green energy retailer, and one of the city-state’s top three retailers overall, has emerged as the first potential customer for the $25 billion Sun Cable Project. This pledge is the second significant boost for the project in the last week after tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes declared he would help fund the project.

The lights are on for Queensland’s Solar for Renters program, but nobody’s home. In a state where solar should be selling faster than hotcakes, landlords and tenants are slow to take up the government’s solar rebate.

The Boonanarring Mineral Sands Project in the North Perth Basin is set to receive a behind-the-meter installation to complement its existing grid-connected power supply. The project is the first significant investment by Climate Capital after its first-round capital raise 18-months ago.

A 6 MW solar plant and 5 MW/2.5 MWh storage system are set to increase the share of renewable electricity on the Pacific island of Nauru from 3% to 47%. The $27 million project is being supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

As part of a broader push to develop a domestic hydrogen industry, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is providing $2.9 million for two studies into using solar and wind-powered hydrogen for ammonia. Both project are located in Queensland and presently use natural gas as feedstock.