Oceania

A global race is underway to capture the manufacturing market for clean energy technologies. While lady lucky has certainly shone on Australia, competition is fierce, experts say.

Despite their promise, adoption rates of Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) in Australia have been underwhelming. Head of Renewable Energy Finance at Plenti, Louis Edwards, says the issue stems from VPP operator’s overlooking their point of sale. “It’s too much risk the installer takes and they don’t do it,” he tells pv magazine Australia.

Queensland has opened its first Queensland SuperGrid Training Centre and Transmission Hub in Gladstone. The facility is expected to train 500 energy workers annually in a range of areas, including high voltage technical training.

GemLife, which describes itself as “luxury resort living for the over-50s,” has set up its own Virtual Power Plant (VPP), and is set to invest $75 million in coming years to rollout the VPPs across more than 10,000 homes in its property portfolio on Australia’s east coast.

Queensland flow battery company, Redflow, has commissioned a 30 kWh zinc-bromine flow battery for the Brisbane City Council.

The Clean Energy Regulator has, for the first time, sought to disqualify a solar installer from the small-scale renewable energy scheme (SRES), effectively Australia’s solar rebate program. It has also commenced civil proceedings against a solar and electrical installation company and its two directors.

Australia’s national science agency will seek to the address some of the challenges associated with storing and transporting hydrogen by developing an off-grid, portable hydrogen generator designed to recover the zero-emissions fuel from a liquid carrier at the point of consumption.

The Victorian government has signed off on a preferred development plan for the contentious VNI West transmission project that will connect the Victorian and New South Wales electricity grids and promises to unlock upwards of 3.4 GW of new renewable generation capacity.

A consortium led by tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes’ Grok Ventures and including green energy investment manager Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners has been successful in acquiring the giant $35 billion Sun Cable renewable energy project.

Australia’s largest grid-connected urban microgrid has been officially commissioned with a new rooftop solar-powered system atop Swedish homewares giant Ikea’s Adelaide store already delivering more than 70% of the store’s energy needs and providing grid support for the South Australian network.