ARENA

Australian Gas Networks (AGN) has revealed detailed plans to introduce renewable hydrogen into the existing natural gas networks in both Victoria and Western Australia after the first production of green hydrogen at its $11.4 million Hydrogen Park South Australia.

Some 2,400 South Australians will soon be fogging up the bathroom mirror without qualms about the cost of heating water, as Solahart implements a trial that controls hot water systems to put in their main effort when the sun is high.

An unexpected loss of more than 400 MW of rooftop PV in South Australia earlier this month has reinforced how critical accurate forecasting tools are for the management of networks with high shares of renewable energy.

Researchers at the Australian National University (ANU) will look to “set the pace” with the development of next-generation solar cell technology after receiving a $4.5 million funding boost.

Carnegie Clean Energy’s Garden Island Microgid, which supplies energy to the HMAS Stirling Navy Base, has successfully recommenced operations after a brief disconnection period to allow for Navy upgrades to its electricity system.

Soon 2020 will only be a worry to future high-school history students. But when they ask us if anything good at all happened in 2020, remember this review and tell them that solar PV shone in the darkness. Despite the mess of it all, 2020 has been another good year for Australian solar. The industry has demonstrated resilience, and significant progress has been made in the fields of energy storage, green hydrogen and others.

For the first time in years, the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics (APAC) has received a major grant. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency has funded APAC to the tune of $19 million with the goal of reasserting Australia’s place at the forefront of solar technology and accelerating the competitiveness of renewable energy.

Australia’s first utility-scale vanadium flow battery will be built in regional South Australia and will demonstrate the technology’s potential to provide energy and frequency control ancillary services (FCAS) for the national grid.

Western Australian utility Horizon Power will build the nation’s first remote microgrid using renewable hydrogen generation at Denham, in the state’s northwest, having secured the support of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has committed $2.9 million to a new electric vehicle charging trial with plans to install around 250 homes with either smart charging software or vehicle-to-grid (V2G) systems to better understand the technology.