Western Australia

Australian-born vanadium redox flow technology and new homegrown electrolyte sources are set to bulk up renewable energy storage options in the Pacific region and plug the gap left by lithium supply-chain issues. Natalie Filatoff reports from Sydney.

Western Australia’s electric vehicle fast-charging network has reached an important milestone with the state government awarding Melbourne-based company Jet Charge a $4.1 million contract to create what will be the world’s longest continuously connected electric highway.

Western Australia has never been closer to demonstrating commercial-scale green hydrogen as Infinite Green Energy’s MEG HP1 project utilising the 11 MW Northam Solar Farm pushes toward completion.

Horizon Power, the state government owned electricity provider for much of regional Western Australia, is set to rollout energy management technology which integrates the utility’s assets with distributed energy resources. The technology, which uses predictive analytics, hopes to unlock access to renewables in the regions.

Construction has commenced on what will be Western Australia’s biggest battery energy storage system with the first of the battery units installed for the 100 MW/200 MWh Kwinana Big Battery being built at the site of the decommissioned Kwinana Power Station near Perth.

Frontier Energy’s plans to produce green hydrogen powered by renewable energy sourced from the potential 500 MW Bristol Springs Solar project it is developing in Western Australia has received a major boost with a study revealing the cost of hydrogen production could be as low as $2.85 per kilogram.

Australian mining technology company TNG Limited, which owns the world’s most advanced vanadium project – the Mount Peake Project in the Northern Territory, is having its leadership team formally challenged by a shareholder campaign criticising the project’s setbacks and slow progression.

International mining giant BHP has pushed forward with its first large-scale off-grid renewable energy project, installing the first solar PV panels at a 10.7 MW solar farm that will help power the company’s estimated $1 billion Nickel West mining operation in regional Western Australia.

Project Symphony provides a glimpse into Western Australia’s energy future, argues the project’s communications lead, Megan Allan. With a large, islanded network featuring high levels of rooftop PV penetration, the pilot on Western Australia’s grid is aggregating residential PV into a virtual power plant (VPP) to participate in a simulated bidirectional wholesale electricity market.

Australian renewables developer South Energy has announced a series of “significant milestones” with a trio of large-scale solar PV and battery projects, with an aggregated capacity of more than 390 MW, getting the tick of approval from relevant authorities.