Oceania

Australia’s first large-scale project to use pumped hydro to store solar generated power, the Kidston facility in north Queensland, has landed more than half a billion dollars in concessional finance from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility.

Perth-based blockchain startup Power Ledger has announced its first carbon credit project as part of its partnership with Chicago-based startup Clean Energy Blockchain Network and in collaboration with California’s municipal utility Silicon Valley Power. The company’s platform will manage credits generated by the use of solar energy in electric vehicle charging.

The national science agency has issued a call for “citizen scientists“ to help it understand the way households consume, generate and interact with energy. The data will be collected by means of the new CSIRO Energise app.

On the back of the massive supply deal, the Spanish manufacturer has announced it has crossed the 1 GW threshold for photovoltaic inverter shipments to Australia.

Solar PV capacity is set to grow 17-fold, and wind six-fold, by 2050, to account for nearly half of global electricity generation, predicts BNEF, while investments will reach US$11.5 trillion. Cost reductions will drive this charge, particularly in the battery market, which will benefit from the EV manufacturing ramp up. Despite this, the electricity sector is still failing to bring CO₂ emissions down to the required levels, with its continued dependence on gas.

Describing it as the “D-Day for renewables”, the Smart Energy Council is raising funds to campaign against the National Energy Guarantee – as currently proposed by the government. The solar and storage peak body has called for a 45%-by-2030 emissions reductions target as opposed to the current 26%.

Hybridization of power supply, through the inclusion of renewables, offers Australian mining companies the opportunity to score a significant “triple win” in the form of reduced cash operating costs, reduced fuel prices and reduced exposure to carbon risk.

The first Senec battery to be installed in an Australian home has helped the household reduce its summer power bill by 90%. The system, a 10 kWp Senec.Home battery, has helped the Spilsbury family in Perth’s western suburbs reduce its power consumption from the grid through maximizing self consumption for its 5 kW rooftop solar and by adapting consumption patterns.

Australia is set to quadruple its utility-scale PV capacity in 2018, with a 2 GW pipeline. The effects of the expansion are now beginning to show, as projects come online. So far just 0.1 MW of the 2018 pipeline are fully operational, but as of July this is going to change.

Data published by the United States Geological Survey show that, in 2017, lithium production in Australia reached 18,700 tons, compared to 14,100 tons in Chile. The market share of Chile has declined from 37.6% in 2016 to 32.8% in 2017; and risen Australia, from 36.8% to 43.5% in the same period.