Western Australia

Fast increasing power prices in Western Australia are set to feed the already “buoyant” residential PV sector, leading suppliers are reporting. The WA government is winding back electricity subsidies in an attempt to repair the state’s budget.

Independent oil and gas producer Woodside will deploy a battery and microgrid solution on one of its offshore gas platforms. The system is planned to reduce the facility’s gas consumption for electricity supply and its O&M costs.

What is being touted as Australia’s largest merchant PV power plant has signed grid connection and electricity transfer agreements with WA’s state-owned grid operator Western Power. Construction on the two-phase 128 MW(dc) project, to be located around 160km east of Perth, is set to get underway in early 2018.

The proposed 6 GW wind+solar project would generate renewable energy from Australia’s wind and solar resources and supply it via subsea cables to Indonesia. Vestas has been confirmed for the wind energy side, while the search for a solar partner, which would deliver the required equipment for the project’s 2 GW solar PV capacity through establishing a manufacturing facility in Indonesia, will be conducted over the next two years.

As Tesla is finalizing connection of the world’s largest energy storage facility in South Australia, trials have got underway for the first utility-scale storage system in Western Australia.

The Australian government has agreed to provide $2.57 million to support a two-year pilot project that will use blockchain technology to pair utility-scale and commercial rooftop PV with a battery, electric vehicle charging stations and water treatment and capture systems in the port city of Fremantle.

Western Australian regional utility Horizon Power is rolling out a new program to incentivize consumers to reduce their consumption during peak hours. The higher fixed tariff may penalize solar homes; however, it does presents an opportunity for battery storage.

Western Australia’s electricity provider Horizon Power is set to receive a financial shot in the arm to install various distributed energy technologies in 90 homes and businesses in the coastal town of Carnarvon, which is home to the state’s first utility-scale energy storage, currently under trial.

The future of solar deployment in Western Australia remains uncertain under the Federal Government’s National Energy Guarantee policy. Excluded from the program, WA solar proponents report that market conditions “may get even harder” for PV in the state.