Western Australia

The Schools Virtual Power Plant pilot project, part of the WA Government’s $66.3 million investment in solar and batteries in its WA Recovery Plan from the impacts of Covid-19, will see ten schools transformed into VPPs. The two year trial is expected to bring reduced electricity bills to schools, improved grid stability, and increased solar uptake in the local community.

Known as iron-ore central, the town of Newman in the far north of Western Australia is also the regional centre for a large Indigenous population which has just opened a health care hub dedicated to its own needs. Solar on the building’s broad, gently arcing roof will significantly reduce the costs of running this much needed facility.

The oil and gas giant has announced it will build 500 MW of renewable energy projects to power some of its global facilities under the four-year agreement with Canada’s Algonquin Power & Utilities.

The Kimberley Recovery Plan spells out in regional focus the renewable energy investments heading to the Kimberley from the Western Australian Government’s $5.5 billion WA Recovery Plan. The Kimberley region is set for an injection of funds to help fortify a sustainable renewable energy sector, particularly for the uptake of residential rooftop solar and energy storage systems.

The Western Australian Government’s $5.5 billion WA Recovery Plan was released yesterday, the plan features $66.3 million in renewable energy investment, most of that to go on solar and batteries, along with a significant top up of the Clean Energy Future Fund.

Western Australia’s Horizon Power is relatively unique among electric utilities – it supplies small cities, big and small agricultural and mining operations, and some of the most remote indigenous communities in the world. It has been a genuine pioneer in delivering cheaper, cleaner power through a combination of renewables and energy storage. It’s also awake to the opportunities for solar and storage to empower the Aboriginal and Torres-Strait Islander communities it serves, explains Horizon’s Roanna Edwards.

The highly successful Western Australian community battery rollout has caught another wave and poured another glass of fine Cab Sav with its newest launch in Margaret River. This particular installation is part of a five-year trial to identify even more prime locations for community energy storage.

The Nowanup property is a keystone in south-west Western Australia’s biodiversity regeneration, and now, with the installation of a stand-alone power system (SPS) from Western Power, the spur of the line property is no longer subject to routine outages from storm and bushfire interruptions. With self-sufficiency, Curtin University can now expand its Bush Campus into the property to better facilitate Noongar education.

A key lithium-ion battery cathode material could be produced in Western Australia, a Queensland University of Technology (QUT) feasibility study has found. The study, released by the WA state government today, investigated whether superior nickel-rich nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) can be produced cost effectively and sustainably in the state in which nine of the ten mineral elements required for lithium-ion battery cells are present.

Western Australia is pioneering new strategies to manage its burgeoning rooftop-top solar resource. Next stop on its DER Roadmap? Engaging commercial and industrial energy users/producers in rewarding strategies for balancing generation and demand.