Western Australia

The McGowan Government is continuing to forward WA’s Future Battery Industry Strategy with the launch on a new early-stage funding initiative. On Wednesday, the government announced a new online Funding Assistance Register, a further boost to the state’s ambition toward a world-leading, sustainable, future battery industry by 2025.

Chinese PV module maker and project developerRisen Energyis pushing its 132 MW Merredin Solar Farm in WA’s Central Wheatbelt  towards full scale installation. The company is hungry to meet its ambitious goal to develop 2 GW of large-scale solar PV projects in Australia.

A housing development in Perth’s northern suburb Girrawheen is the first of its kind for Western Australia to provide a solar system with every home. Launched last year by provider Infinite Energy, the solar lease has proved to be a winner for homebuyers, resulting in a 40% saving on daytime power costs.

More regional Western Australians will have the opportunity to install rooftop solar panels on their premises with 10 MW of additional renewable energy generation released on Horizon Power microgrids.

Two Western Australian mines will be powered by renewable energy hybrid microgrids echoing a global shift away from fossil fuels in the mining sector.

WA’s publicly owned grid operator will equip some of its staff with the skills required to install and maintain standalone power systems on the South West Interconnected Network (SWIN). The move reflects the move away from traditional poles-and-wires electricity supply, particularly to regional parts of the state’s Southwest. 

The Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority (WA-EPA) has announced that it will open its greenhouse gas guidelines on June 10, 2019, for public and stakeholder consultation. Its earlier moves to incorporate greenhouse emissions into its evaluation process for resource-industry projects met with strong pushback from the state’s powerful mining lobby.

There’s nothing high tech about resistance heating in the form of an immersion hot water element. But when added to rooftop solar PV, it can be a powerful way to maximise self consumption – when coupled with a smart control system. 

Western Australia’s government says nearly a third of successful applicants in the latest round of the state-backed commodity exploration scheme hopes to discover battery materials. In other news, the state government has established the Energy Transformation Taskforce in response to the energy sector’s transition from coal to renewables and distributed energy resources. 

The Australian arm of German energy storage provider Senec has welcomed Mark Keogh as a shareholder and member of the board of directors. Keogh is the founder and CEO of UON, a WA-based provider of turnkey power, air and water solutions to the mining and resources industry.