The world’s largest coal seaport is now powered by 100% renewable energy, following the confirmation of a new deal between the Port of Newcastle, Australia, and the Australian unit of Spanish energy group Iberdrola.

New South Wales-based development company Greenspot has lodged a planning application for a massive 500 MW/1,000 MWh battery energy storage system to be built at the site of the shuttered coal-fired Wallerawang Power Station near Lithgow in the Central Tablelands.

In an Australian first, up to 100% of daytime operations at two major iron ore mines have been powered entirely by renewable energy, as utility Alinta Energy has switched on the 60 MW Chichester Hub Solar Farm in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

Australia’s solar PV panel manufacturing capacity is set to get a major boost, as Melbourne-based RTE Energy has confirmed that it plans to set up a large-scale heterojunction module factory in the state of Queensland.

Reclaim PV has added another partner to its national solar panel recycling and recovery program with South Australian-based manufacturer Tindo Solar committing to a program that will see close to 100% of the solar PV panels that it handles recycled and re-used in the industry.

Australia’s Stanwell Energy and Spanish renewable energy company Acciona Energia have signed a deal that could use energy generated at the proposed 600 MWp Aldoga Solar Farm to power a 3 GW green hydrogen project being developed in Queensland.

Australia’s largest energy gen-tailer, AGL, says it has received approval for a 200 MW/800 MWh grid scale battery to be developed at the site of its coal-fired Loy Yang power station in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley.

Australian energy storage company VSUN Energy claims to have identified the ‘missing piece of the renewable energy jigsaw’ after successfully testing a standalone electric vehicle battery charger using solar PV supplied by a vanadium redox flow battery.

Ongoing growth in both renewable generation capacity, including rooftop solar, large-scale wind and solar, and dispatchable power in the form of big batteries is expected to drive down household power bills across the National Electricity Market in the coming years despite the impending closure of several of Australia’s ageing fossil-fuel fired power stations.

Australian miner IGO is building upon its renewable energy options at its Nova nickel operation after signing an agreement with Perth-based energy storage company VSUN Energy to test a hybrid standalone power system backed by a vanadium redox flow battery.