City of Sydney sets 100% renewables target
With solar panels already installed on dozens of its buildings, the city of Sydney has upped the ante by vowing to source 100% of its electricity needs from solar PV and wind. The commitment was endorsed by city council last week, with a new 100% renewable electricity contract to be negotiated in the coming months.
More than a half million pumped-hydro sites for a world of 100% renewables
A recent Australian National University study shows that newly developed geographic information system algorithms can identify prospective sites for off-river pumped hydro projects throughout the world. The researchers, who identified around 530,000 potential sites, said pumped-hydro installations could enable large-scale energy time-shifting, as well as a range of ancillary services such as frequency regulation, which could help to integrate high levels of PV and wind into electricity systems.
Gridserve to build PV-powered, battery-backed EV charging stations
Gridserve has revealed plans to install more than 100 electric-vehicle charging stations throughout the U.K. It will start building the first of these facilities later this year, backed by a £1 billion ($1.7 billion) investment.
Queensland sends first green hydrogen shipment to Japan
Green hydrogen has been exported from Australia to Japan, under a trial executed by researchers from JXTG, Japan’s largest petroleum conglomerate, using Queensland University of Technology’s cutting-edge Redlands Research Facility. The Queensland government has also announced AUD 250,000 ($177,000) in funding toward the establishment of a renewable hydrogen production pilot plant.
Enel moves on 13 GW pipeline, flips 6 GW of solar+storage
Enel acquired developer Tradewind Energy’s 13 GW portfolio of wind and solar+storage projects in the United States, and then immediately sold the 6 GW solar+storage portion to Macquarie.
Australian government unveils $35.7m pot to power remote communities
Australia’s Coalition government has announced funding to support up to 50 off-grid and fringe-of-grid feasibility studies that will investigate whether building a microgrid is cost-effective and whether existing off-grid capabilities can be upgraded with more up-to-date technology.
African Development Bank approves $20m to back minigrids in DRC
The board of the multilateral development finance institution has approved a $20 million facility to back the deployment of renewables-based minigrid projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Guinea-Bissau launches 22 MW PV tender
The tendered project is expected to provide 500,000 people with access to energy, while more than doubling the country’s total installed power generation capacity. It includes a grid-connected 20 MW solar plant in Gardete and two 1 MW hybrid solar-diesel plants in Gabu and Canchungo that will also rely on some storage capacity.
Big batteries are coming to California
Macquarie has closed on funding for a third portion of a 340 MWh project in Southern California, and LADWP is planning 1.8 GW of batteries.
Japan’s METI cuts C&I FIT by 22%
It is official: METI has cut the feed-in tariff for Japan’s C&I solar segment by 22% to roughly $0.13/kWh.
