Oceania

Libra Energy has unveiled its first major Australian renewables project, announcing plans to build an 850 MW / 3,400 MWh battery energy storage system in southeast Queensland to help soak up excess solar energy and stabilise the grid supply and demand during peak hours.

Growth in Australia’s renewable energy sector is strong with 43 GW of new utility scale generation and storage projects working through the National Electricity Market connection process but concerns remain that uncertainties surrounding approval processes could impact investor confidence.

A new report published by the CSIRO says Australia’s research into solar recycling is second in the world, outside China, but suggests the establishment of mid-stream activities such as the production of metallurgical silicon and polysilicon have big potential.

Australia’s energy market operator says that batteries are increasingly supporting demand peaks in the National Electricity Market (NEM). Average generation during these periods has more than doubled since the same time last year.

An industry data exchange co-design is putting consumer energy resources at the beating heart of Australia’s energy marketplace, prompted by a 2050 projection of 86 GW of rootfop solar and 27 GW of flexible demand in the National Electricity Market (NEM).

Australian software developer PV Lighthouse has secured almost AUD 1.97 million ($1.32 million) to drive development of its SunSolve Yield advanced simulation engine, which is designed to improve yield forecasting for utility-scale solar projects.

Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners’ plan to build a “state-of-the-art” polysilicon manufacturing plant in Australia has taken a step forward, with Australian Silica Quartz starting a drilling program at a planned mine site that could provide feedstock for the proposed facility.

Researchers at the Australian National University (ANU), Canberra, have shown that their response to a February 2024 grid emergency provides evidence that electric vehicles (EVs) equipped with vehicle-to-grid (V2G) systems could strengthen the grid during blackouts, marking a global first for such research.

Horizon Power has developed a solar hydrogen microgrid in Western Australia, including a custom control program for autonomous management of its subsystems in Denham, according to a new report produced in cooperation with the state government

Researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) plan to develop a redesigned PV module for easier recycling, with AUD 5 million ($3.4 million) in federal government funding to help transform Australia’s solar panel recycling industry.