Oceania

A report published by New Zealand’s state-owned transmission grid operator Transpower finds the widespread uptake of distributed battery storage could play an important role in supporting the power system as rooftop PV and electric vehicles are increasingly adopted.

Retail super fund Future Super is backing peer-to-peer (P2P) solar loans to the tune of $200,000. While only small change, the move is claimed to be the first investment of a retail super fund in P2P clean technology lending.

Western Australia utility Horizon Power’s Carnarvon Distributed Energy Resource (DER) PV trails have received the silver award in the Energy Smart Communities Initiatives (ESCI) Best Practice Awards in the category of Smart Grids. The award recognises the necessity of DER trailing in order to find better ways to integrate solar PV into regional locations. 

Following similar calls from other industry bodies, the Clean Energy Council has urged the Victorian government to review its landmark Solar Homes Program and warned about the serious effects its dynamics has on the industry.

The 5 MW Mobilong Solar Farm will run on a fully merchant offtake arrangement over its 30-year lifetime.

An international research collaboration led by Curtin University is set to help decarbonise mining and other off-grid industry with concentrating solar power that delivers clean energy night and day.

New research released this week by The Australia Institute shows that ‘time of use pricing’ (ToU) facilitated by smart meters is likely to drive up household energy costs by $429 a year on top of already high prices. Analysis of national electricity market data suggests that demand for electricity in Australia is very inelastic, which makes ToU more likely to increase the profits of electricity companies than to assist consumers. Households with solar PV and batteries, however, are best suited to cope with this type of pricing. 

Australia’s first large-scale project to use pumped hydro to store solar generated power, the Kidston facility in north Queensland, has landed a $610 million loan from the Federal Government’s the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF).

Voltage regulation creates challenges for grid operation, particularly at high penetration levels of solar and other distributed renewables. Fresh being recognised as energy transition pioneers at the recent Startup Energy Transition (SET) Awards in Berlin, Planet Ark Power and its behind-the-meter technology is looking to dynamize Australia’s, and the world’s, energy grids with distributed clean energy.

The McGowan Government is continuing to forward WA’s Future Battery Industry Strategy with the launch on a new early-stage funding initiative. On Wednesday, the government announced a new online Funding Assistance Register, a further boost to the state’s ambition toward a world-leading, sustainable, future battery industry by 2025.