Western Australia

Solar access will be expanded throughout regional Western Australia with state-owned energy provider Horizon Power announcing plans to roll out “state-of-the-art” internet-connected technology that will help balance energy on regional microgrids.

Australia is among the countries being considered to host a large-scale battery-grade lithium processing plant after Perth-based resources company Pilbara Minerals struck a deal with Chinese battery metals giant Ganfeng Lithium.

Modular solar array manufacturer 5B has commenced construction of the solar component of an 89.7 MW hybrid microgrid that will help power mining company Bellevue Gold’s namesake gold mine in Western Australia with at times up to 100% renewables.

Western Australian regional energy provider Horizon Power will trial two novel long-duration energy storage technologies – including a zinc-bromine flow battery provided by Queensland manufacturer Redflow – as it seeks to identify new energy storage solutions for off-grid communities dealing with high levels of solar and extreme weather.

Mining and energy major Fortescue says the performance of an electric excavator operating at its Cloudbreak mine site in Western Australia’s is continuing to improve but is at times already performing better than its diesel equivalent.

Perth-based resources company Australian Vanadium Limited has executed another element of its planned ‘pit to battery’ strategy, producing the first battery-ready vanadium electrolyte at its new manufacturing facility in Western Australia.

Plans to develop a $3 billion green hydrogen and ammonia project in the far north of Western Australia have been boosted with the federal government tipping in more than $1.6 million to support a feasibility study that will explore the potential of the giga-scale project.

Western Australian government-owned utility Synergy has commenced construction of its third grid-scale battery as the state government looks to ramp up energy storage capacity to support its planned transition from coal-fired power generation to renewables.

Social housing advocate group Shelter WA has called on the Western Australian government to invest in the energy efficiency of social housing. With rising temperatures, upgrading energy efficiency in social housing, including solar and energy storage, would alleviate power bills as well as state healthcare costs.

Australian renewables infrastructure provider, Pacific Energy, has completed and delivered four solar-BESS-gas hybrid systems, which have a combined capacity of 82 MW, to gold producer Westgold Resources.