Victoria

Chinese inverter brand Sungrow has signed a 79 MW inverter and 176 MWh battery energy storage contract with Sydney-based hydrogen battery company Lavo. The contract will see Sungrow add its storage solution to 16 mid-scale solar farms in Victoria.

The proposed 240 MWp/480 MWh Mornington big battery project being developed by solar and energy storage specialist Maoneng on Victoria’s coast is a step closer to realisation with the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) providing grid connection assessment approval.

Victoria’s Deakin University will spearhead what it claims will be the largest recycling and clean energy advanced manufacturing ecosystem in Australia after securing $50 million in funding through the Federal Government’s $242.7 million Trailblazer Universities Program.

As people have gradually migrated to the world’s cities, urban areas have migrated upward to scrape the sky. And yet, while one of the first principles of power generation is to generate as close as possible to the point of consumption, energy systems have long been designed to deliver electricity to major cities from distant hubs. But now, thanks to recent advances in solar panel energy density and building-integrated PV, vertical cities could soon be standing tall under their own power.

A trio of Victorian electricity distributors are turning to new, smarter technologies including more battery energy storage systems and demand management programs as they seek to meet changing customer needs and improve grid reliability in areas where the low-voltage distribution network is constrained.

The 300MW/450MWh Victorian big battery has proven a financial winner for French renewable power producer Neoen which has reported its first-quarter revenue has jumped by more than one third.

Hailed as a landmark for Australia’s vision of becoming a global hydrogen exporter, the Suiso Frontier’s first shipment of liquid hydrogen from Australia is now under investigation after a flame was seen coming from the gas combustion unit’s exhaust on deck.

Mazda Australia’s car part distribution centre in Melbourne has been fitted with a 900kW rooftop solar installation which is contributing to the centre, owned by Fraser Property Australia, now being 100% powered by carbon neutral energy.

Transgrid and the Commonwealth Government have come to a $75 million underwriting agreement for the construction of the Victoria to New South Wales Interconnector West, a key piece of network infrastructure in the Australian Market Operator’s Integrated System Plan for the increased integration of renewables and maintaining reliability amidst the retirement of coal-fired power.

The 7.5MW Cosgrove solar farm in central Victoria has reached financial close and will begin construction as soon as next month after its owners, Bison Energy, reached an agreement with an undisclosed Australian superannuation fund.