Australia

Rio Tinto will team up with Sumitomo Corp. to build a green hydrogen production plant in Australia as part of an AUD 111 million (USD 74.64 million) project to lower carbon emissions from the alumina refining process.

Synergy will offer free electricity to eligible customers, in a move that is designed in part to help counter challenges facing the main power grid in Western Australia.

Scientists in Australia have provided a comprehensive review of all strategies and technologies that can be used to increase the dispatchability of solar power with reduced use of storage. They focused their efforts, in particular, on forecasting and controlling PV power.

AusNet Services’ independent subsidiary, Mondo Power, has commissioned 17 standalone power systems featuring PV and battery energy storage, as part of its inaugural trial of the offgrid technology.

Solar Analytics, an Australian solar energy analytics company, is now offering a new service that allows solar owners to retrieve consumption data directly from retail meters, eliminating the need for additional consumption metering.

Ausgrid has installed its first pole-mounted battery energy storage system as part of a trial to more effectively manage growing penetration of rooftop solar and periods of peak demand.

QEM has shortlisted three non-binding indicative bids to develop, own and operate 1 GW of proposed wind and solar energy to power its planned vanadium mining and oil shale project in Queensland, Australia.

Construction has started on Western Australia’s second grid-scale battery, as the state government looks to scale up energy storage capacity to support its planned transition from coal-fired power to renewables.

Australian renewables developer Genex Power has signed agreements with Japanese utility J-Power for a multimillion-dollar funding package that will support the delivery of its 2 GWh pumped hydro project in Queensland Australia, and the development of the 2 GW Bulli Creek solar and battery project.

Australian renewables startup Green Gravity has teamed with underground mining contractor RUC to accelerate the commercialization of its gravitational energy storage tech.