Queensland

A proposed 400 MW pumped hydro storage project is on track to become the first of its kind to be completed in Queensland in more three decades after industry giant GE Renewable Energy provided its backing for the project.

Information technology giant Fujitsu is the latest major company to commit its Australian operations to a renewable energy future, installing a 99.6 kW solar PV system on the roof of its data centre in Brisbane, Queensland.

Redflow CEO, Tim Harris, is confident the company’s Gen3 flow battery will go into production in the first half of this year, once the results from its customer trial are evaluated.

Plans to build a large-scale solar farm at Harlin in Queensland’s Somerset Council region continue to gather momentum after Singaporean infrastructure investor Keppel Corporation agreed to pour more than $3 million into the project.

The Australian Energy Market Commission’s latest annual Residential Electricity Price Trends report shows costs reducing as renewable build out replaces inefficient coal-fired generation, and more lowest-cost renewable supply is on the way.

An award-winning Australian solar-powered ‘water battery’ has been lauded as an unmitigated success with figures from the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC) revealing the system generated more than 3 GWh of electricity in its first 12 months of operation.

Vena Australia has reached financial close on its 100 MW and 150 MWh Wandoan South Big Battery thanks to ING Australia. The international bank is increasingly financing green energy projects but this is the first standalone battery project it has financed in the Asia Pacific. Vena Energy Australia says this phase is just the beginning of a project that is to feature 650 MW of solar PV and 450 MW of battery storage.

Hydrogen demand in South Korea is expected to reach 17 million tonnes by 2050. An ambitious solar PV project in the heart of Queensland’s unconventional-gas country, plans to be an early green supplier of the manufacturing nation’s hydrogen needs.

Renewable energy investors have shattered the Queensland Government’s expectations with the state’s Renewable Energy Zones (REZs) attracting more than $90 billion in project proposals.

Australian engineering firm UGL ends the week on a high having landed a series of renewable energy sector contracts with a combined value of more than $112 million.