Western Australia

Province Resources has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with French giant Total Eren, which could see the two companies have equal shares in Province’s HyEnergy Zero Carbon Hydrogen project proposed in northwest Western Australia. Importantly, the ambition of the project seems to have grown significantly with the commitment of heavy hitter, Total Eren, with Province now saying it plans to install 8 GW of renewable energy capacity, far more than the 1 GW which caused a stir when it was announced earlier this year.

The Australian arm of German renewable energy specialist juwi has added another off-grid solar PV project to its burgeoning portfolio, announcing it will construct a 13 MW solar farm at the site of the Gruyere gold mine in Western Australia.

Solar glass developer ClearVue Technologies has once again looked beyond the Western Australia horizon by inking a distribution agreement with Japanese company Tomita Technologies which will see its building integrated PV (BIPV) glazing products sold in Japan.

Gold mining company Wiluna Mining Corp has started its move to renewables, installing a 2 MW battery to replace diesel generators with plans to integrate solar, wind or pumped storage options in the coming years.

Province Resources, which caused a stock market frenzy earlier this year when it announced plans to build 1 GW of hybrid solar and wind to produce green hydrogen in Western Australia, has today said it plans to acquire more land for the project.

Australian gold producer Red 5 is the latest mining company making the switch to renewables, engaging remote power generation specialist Zenith Energy to install a 30 MW hybrid solar PV-gas power plant at its King of the Hills gold mine in Western Australia.

Perth-based Province Resources has tapped on ERM to steer its 1 GW co-located solar and wind green hydrogen project in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia through the raft of approvals required for development. The project is ideally positioned for domestic and export supply of green hydrogen and ammonia.

Have we reached a tipping point, from building the case with mining companies for deploying renewable energy … to where renewable energy is helping to build the case for mining?

Solar module developers have long recognised the detrimental effects heat has on cell performance but West Australian company Sunovate has pointed to solar PV-thermal (PVT) technology as an opportunity to value add by improving efficiency.

As the vision of Australia becoming a leading hydrogen exporter sharpens, questions about the best form in which to send our offering into the world arise. Just in the last fortnight, a West Australian company has came out with a strong case for a new, largely overlooked form: compressed hydrogen. The curve ball has piqued the interest of many. “I think they’re really doing some very exciting work,” Scott Hamilton from the Smart Energy Council told pv magazine Australia.