Oceania

The Australian states of Victoria and South Australia suffered blackouts at the end of last week as a heatwave drove up air conditioning power demand and coal-fired power stations couldn’t cope. Extreme weather is debunking arguments for new fossil fuel generation and signalling energy security lies in renewables.

More than 70,000 Australian households will install battery storage this year, according to the Bloomberg New Energy Finance. With the nation’s storage demand set to triple, Australia is expected to make up 30% of global demand.

The global market stagnated last year, with around 98 GW deployed. For 2019, the experts expect stronger solar growth, provided there are no setbacks in China.

Transition to a world run entirely on clean energy – together with the implementation of natural climate solutions – is the only way to halt climate change and keep the global temperature rise below 1.5°C, according to another significant study.

The Australian Labor Party has released a National Hydrogen Plan, which involves directing AU$1 billion in CEFC funding towards clean hydrogen projects, $100 million in ARENA grants for hydrogen technology refuelling infrastructure, and $40 million from the CEFC’s Innovation Fund to help commercialise new hydrogen technologies and businesses. Looking towards clean energy exports, the plan will provide $3 million in funding to Queensland coal port in Gladstone with the aim of creating a hydrogen hub.

In the final days of 2018, Australia’s New South Wales government gave its tick of approval for the construction of the state’s largest solar farm to date, rounding off a year that saw a flurry of utility-scale solar construction activity and an unprecedented number of big solar additions in the state.

At the end of another year or record rooftop PV installations, national Minister for Energy Angus Taylor warns Australian state governments to “consider the potential risks” of rapid solar industry growth.

Vales Point coal-fired power station owner, Delta Electricity, will purchase most of the output of the 275 MW Darlington Solar Farm in New South Wales under a deal that both sides see as a demonstration of the growing role of renewable energy.

After approving a major solar+storage project at Darlington Point this week, Australia’s New South Wales (NSW) Department of Planning and Environment has just greenlit two more utility-scale solar PV projects: The 170 MW Suntop Solar Farm and the 47 MW Gregadoo Solar Farm.

The New South Wales Department of Planning and Environment has given the green light to a massive solar farm coupled with a utility-scale energy storage facility. The Australian project proposed by Edify Energy is valued at AU$407 million.