solar au

International Graphite has made a key move in pursuit of its ‘mine to market’ strategy with the minerals startup securing a site for its proposed battery anode material manufacturing plant near the coal town of Collie in Western Australia.

The federal government has committed $14 million (USD 9.32 million) to establish a renewables industry ‘growth centre’ to support Australian businesses looking to manufacture, commercialise and adopt clean energy technologies.

The first large-scale battery storage project connected to Western Australia’s main grid has only just commenced operational testing and already plans are in place to build an even bigger battery at the site as the state government seeks to harness surging rooftop solar resources to meet its power needs as it prepares to dump coal power.

The Australian government has been urged to “look to the future” when establishing the parameters for a $1 billion (USD 670 million) funding package that will offer low-cost finance for people wanting to upgrade their home’s energy efficiency with products such as solar panels and high-performing electric appliances.

The Northern Territory government has committed $12 million (USD 8.05 million) in its latest budget to accelerate the development of a “sustainable” industrial hub that will be largely powered by renewables as it looks to continue the overhaul of its electricity system.

It sounds like a lot. Kickstarting green hydrogen in Australia with $2 billion (USD 1.35 billion) to subsidise early production and making the energy-dense gas competitive. A goal of up to a gigawatt of electrolyser capacity within seven years.

The West Australian government will plough almost $3 billion (USD 2.03 billion) into renewable energy generation, storage and transmission projects with modelling revealing more than 50 GW of new generation and storage capacity will be required in the state’s main electricity grid within the next 20 years.

There were an estimated 100 million individual solar panels in Australia at the end of 2022. We estimate this number will likely grow to over 2 billion if we are to meet Australia’s 2050 net-zero emissions target. This growth means Australia is facing a 450,000-tonne mountain of used PV panels by 2040.

Construction of the South Australian section of the $2.3 billion (USD 1.56 billion) EnergyConnect infrastructure project, which will link power grids across three states, is now more than 50% complete with ElectraNet announcing the high-voltage interconnector is on track for release of full power transfer capability by mid-2026.

Chinese solar and storage technology manufacturer Sungrow has strengthened its commitment in Australia, inking new distribution agreements that will deliver at least 550 MWh of the company’s energy storage system solutions and 250 MW of its inverters into the Australian market.