South Australia

The South Australian state government has launched a $50 million fund to support construction of new energy storage projects, seeking to address intermittency in the state electricity system and make electricity more affordable and reliable. There will be one round of applications, with a closing date of Thursday, 7 February 2019.

The Canadian battery manufacturer has been approved as the third battery storage provider for the South Australian Home Battery Scheme. Eguana plans to set up a manufacturing facility in Adelaide, creating up to 200 new jobs over the next three years.

The China-headquartered battery manufacturer has joined Germany’s sonnen as an exclusive approved battery storage provider for the South Australian Home Battery Scheme. Alpha-ESS plans to set up a manufacturing facility in Adelaide, where it will build more than 8000 batteries a year and create up to 120 jobs.

After being commissioned in stages, the Bungala Solar Farm near Port Augusta in South Australia is now fully operational. At 220 MW/275 MWdc, Bungala is Australia’s largest solar farm completed to date.

The South Australian government has inaugurated its landmark $100 million Home Battery Scheme, which will subsidize the cost of buying a home energy storage system for up to 40,000 South Australian households. A nine-week priority period has been given to locally made battery systems, with Germany’s sonnen as the first provider to enjoy this benefit.

Announcing the appointment a new managing director for Australia and Asia Pacific, the German storage provider has confirmed it expects to produce the first batteries from its production line at the former Holden site in Elizabeth, SA, next month.

Peer-to-peer lender RateSetter has been named the exclusive administrator of the South Australian government’s Home Battery Scheme. Based on a funding deal with the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, RateSetter will offer $100 million in loans in cases when the upfront costs of the home battery system installations are not met by the South Australia government subsidies.

South Australia’s largest water and sewerage services supplier is set to add a utility-scale PV project to its solar fleet, as part of its plan to achieve zero net electricity costs by 2020. The project will feature solar modules provided by Chinese module giant JA Solar.

U.S. firm SolarReserve is moving on its massive solar thermal plant project in South Australia having signed a memorandum of understanding with local outfit Heliostat SA.

The South Australian government says it is looking to implement a series of reforms to improve the reliability, affordability and security of the state’s energy market. According to its latest state budget, released on Tuesday, it has allocated $180 million to execute the program.