Western Australia

Horizon Power, Western Australia’s regional power provider, has commenced the second stage of its Onslow microgrid project, which will provide local residents and businesses with access to low-cost solar and energy storage systems. German storage provider Senec has been chosen to supply batteries to the project.

After reporting a $45 million loss in its half year results, the troubled renewable energy developer has suffered a new blow. The Western Australia government has terminated the $16 million financial assistance agreement for the Albany wave energy project, noting that unexpected proposal to change Federal Government’s R&D tax incentive scheme contributed to destabilization of the company’s financial position. 

In response to the energy sector’s transition from coal to renewables and distributed energy resources, Western Australia’s Labor government says it has started drafting a strategy to deliver a cleaner and more resilient energy supply for decades to come. Coming off the back of the strategy launch, WA’s environment watchdog has announced new and expanding mining and oil and gas projects would face much tougher scrutiny around their emissions. The WA government has moved to distance itself from the proposed emissions rules.

Western Australia’s government-owned regional utility Horizon Power is readying to roll out 13 solar and battery technology units at 14 far-flung farms in the Esperance region.

While it managed to gain past financial backing from the state government despite uncertainty surrounding its landmark wave energy project, the troubled WA-based renewable energy developer has suffered another blow last week. Trading of Carnegie shares has been suspended from the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).

WA-based renewable energy developer Carnegie Clean Energy has completed commissioning of a microgrid project, featuring 2 MW solar PV and 2 MW/0.5 MWh battery, at a naval base in Western Australia.

The Western Australian government-owned utility has inked $8.8 million in contracts signed for the first stage of its landmark off-grid program for regional properties. The deployment will be led by local WA companies, Hybrid Systems and BayWa r.e. Solar Systems.

In late January Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation Group took its first step into the distributed generation market, with its acquisition of Perth-based Infinite Energy. Infinite’s founder and CEO Aidan Jenkins says “after being the little guy” the Sumitomo balance sheet will allow the company to compete with the major electricity retailers – if state government in WA gives them the chance.

Australian lithium developer Neometals has taken its lithium‐ion battery recycling technology to the floor at a pilot plant in Canada. SGS Canada has been contracted to construct and operate the pilot at its Lakefield facility, and handle both the front-end feed preparation and hydrometallurgical processing/refining stages.

With li-ion battery supply chains stretched by the rapid EV and energy storage uptake, Western Australia is looking to position itself at the forefront of global battery manufacturing. The state government has launched a strategy to grow WA’s future battery industry, which includes plans for an investment attraction strategy.