Western Australia

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.

The Western Australia government has installed the state’s sixth grid-connected community PowerBank battery, taking the total number of shared battery storage systems on the Western Power network to 13.

An Australian government-backed trial of peer-to-peer (P2P) solar trading has demonstrated the potential of localized two-sided energy markets and blockchain technology to improve the energy system. However, current electricity tariff structures would need to be modified to realize the full stack of values that this technology has to offer.

Perth-based Hazer Group has completed an $8.4 million share placement that will be used towards a project that will turn wastewater into green hydrogen and graphite using technology developed by the University of Western Australia.

The German-headquartered project developer has signed a deal with Pacific Energy’s subsidiary Contract Power to build a hybrid renewable energy project that will power the town of Esperance.

Western Australia’s Renewable Hydrogen Strategy is beginning to make moves with the backing of Hazer Group and the Water Corporation to produce hydrogen from biogas, an Australian-first with a technology developed in Australia.