Solar energy on tap for SA water
Power and water are a classic utility couple. SA Water has switched up the relationship with another solar plant energised in its massive solar rollout that is set to save on both costs and carbon.
Let South Australia’s world-leading flexible solar exports trial begin!
Since July last year, SA Power Networks has been refining the technology and stakeholder engagement mechanisms that will enable dynamic solar exports to the grid, potentially ending an era of severe export limits on new customers in rooftop-solar-rich parts of the South Australian network and in other jurisdictions.
Low-income tenants get relief in Australia’s big public-housing solar retrofit — latest evidence from WA
For a small infrastructure investment in rooftop solar systems, state governments can make a material difference to the lives of social housing tenants, and further their net-zero ambitions. Western Australia reports another win-win.
Land secured from traditional owners for solar + storage, progressing SA’s 1.3 GW renewable hub
Canadian clean energy company Amp Energy has secured a lease agreement with Indigenous landowners to develop a solar farm and storage system in Whyalla, South Australia. The project is one of three sites which make up the company’s proposed Renewable Energy Hub of South Australia, announced in May.
AEMO’s 2025 goal means that SA becomes the proving grounds
The latest news in the NEM is AEMO’s goal to be capable of handling periods of 100% instantaneous renewables penetration by 2025. This is a significant challenge and fitting given the pace the NEM is moving to
supporting increasingly higher levels of instantaneous (and increasingly asynchronous) renewables on a regular basis.
SA Greens seek to reinstate a publicly owned electricity system — based on renewables
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.
CSIRO looks to space to test next gen solar cell technology
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.
Why AGL’s new grid-forming battery is ‘genuinely cutting edge’
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.
World’s largest ‘grid forming’ battery to begin construction near Adelaide
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’s constrained renewables to be unleashed as four new syncons spin into action
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.
