South Australia

The South Australian Greens Party has proposed a tax-and-spend plan for the state that goes against everything the Federal Government advocates, in favour of massive funding of essential services and reducing carbon emissions in the process.

The CSIRO is pushing the limits of flexible solar PV cells, partnering with Australian start-up Space Machines Company to test the technology in space.

Australian giant AGL Energy plans to build what will be the world’s largest ‘grid-forming’ battery in South Australia, deploying technology so novel that it yet to be clearly regulated in Australia. “Trialling something like this on the grid at this scale hasn’t been done before anywhere in the world,” Josh Birmingham, Director of Large-Scale & Project Solutions at SMA Australia, told pv magazine Australia.

Australian giant AGL Energy will soon own the world’s largest ‘grid forming’ battery, with construction on its 250 MW/250 MWh big battery to begin later this year at Torrens Island, just north of Adelaide in South Australia. The battery will be delivered by Finnish technology company Wärtsilä with inverters supplied by German company SMA Solar Technology.

South Australia is a global hero for its demonstration of a rapid transition to renewable generation. But as renewables supplied more than 60% of the state’s electricity, and pushed out coal and even gas-fired generation, cracks appeared in the system strength and inertia required to keep the grid reliably running. ElectraNet has deployed old, clean-running technology — synchronous condensers — to smooth the gaps.

Japan’s biggest oil refiner Eneos and French renewables developer Neoen have announced they will undertake a joint study looking at the potential development of an international supply chain for an affordable and stable supply of green hydrogen produced from renewable energy in South Australia.

The time is now for the energy consumer, says Anna Bruce, as energy “prosumers” produce, consume, and provide electricity and grid services in previously unimagined ways. Bruce, a senior lecturer at the University of New South Wales’ School of Solar Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering (SPREE), leads work on the role of distributed energy resources in the energy transition, analysing firsthand the dizzying level of complexity it brings.

SA Water, one of the largest water utilities in Australia and most ambitious when it comes to renewable energy, has partnered with aerial solar inspection and data analysis company, Above, to monitor the performance of its 360,000+ solar panels.

AGL Energy will shut down the first of four gas-fired 200 MW units at its Torrens Island ‘B’ Power Station in South Australia within three months as it looks to navigate “challenging” market conditions prompted by the ongoing penetration of renewables into the energy grid.

Australian renewable energy developer Maoneng has lodged plans to construct a ‘critical’ 225 MW/450 MWh utility scale battery energy storage system at Gould Creek in South Australia.