Tasmania

Tasmania’s port authority has entered into an agreement with Fortescue Future Industries for land and operating access for its proposed 250 MW green hydrogen plant at Bell Bay, in Tasmania’s north.

Redflow’s Systems Integration Architect and largest shareholder has brought his work home, installing a 280kWh Redflow battery-based microgrid at his sheep farm in northwest Tasmania.

Tasmanian Labor believes Premier Peter Gutwein and his Liberal Party have dropped the ball on solar in a big way. Tasmanian Labor Leader Rebecca White is therefore promising $20 million to fund loans for residential and commercial solar and battery storage installations, as well as solar for state schools and social housing.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency is funding Jemena to the tune of $1.6 million toward a new trial in which various electricity networks in Victoria, ACT, and Tasmania will manage residential EV charging to better prepare the grid for a time when mass charging will take place at peak periods.

Hydro Tasmania and buyers Macquarie Group and ERM Power have signed a ‘Virtual Storage’ deal which will see the pumped-hydro company sell the rights to its highest priced periods of ‘discharge’ and buying a fixed MW block of low-priced ‘charge’. The innovative contract is the product of the ARENA-funded Renewable Energy Hub.

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.

In light of the Morrison Government committing another $94 million to Marinus Link, Cornwall Insight Australia Senior Analyst, Jake Dunstan, asks whether Tasmania can do both; support the mainland and develop a renewable hydrogen industry locally.

New electricity linkages will be created between Tasmania and the mainland after the state became the latest to have its renewables projects fast tracked and given funding by the federal government.

Every new regional EV charging station is a trailblazer. Last week, Evie Networks launched the first of three ultra-fast charging opportunities it has planned for Tasmania. Company CEO Chris Mills talked to pv magazine about the many factors the company considers in situating its infrastructure, to enhance the freedom of EV drivers to travel where they like.

The Commonwealth Government has OK’d the first phase of 600-1000 MW worth of developments that will feed into Tasmania’s 200% renewables by 2040 target; as well as the Marinus Link project; and the state’s ambitions to attract high-energy industries to its shores.