Oceania

The government of the Australian state of New South Wales has secured bids for more than 5.5 GW of wind and solar projects, as well as more than 2.5 GW of long-duration storage projects.

New Zealand’s solarZero says it aims to provide fast, sustained reserves with its virtual power plant (VPP) of 10,000 household battery systems. Meridian Energy, meanwhile, has secured approval for a 100 MW battery energy storage system – the country’s largest such system to date.

The government of the Australian state of Victoria has unveiled an ambitious plan to install 100 battery energy storage systems by the end of 2026, as part of a broader strategy to support the rollout of more rooftop solar.

Australia’s Energy Estate has signed a new agreement with Abergeldie, which designs vertical man-made caverns for hydrogen storage. The partnership will focus on a range of projects, including a 1.6 GW hydrogen network.

Corporations in the Asia-Pacific region are set to contract a record 7 GW of renewable capacity in 2022, according to a new report by Wood Mackenzie. Solar accounts for 57% of the region’s contracted corporate renewable power purchase agreements (PPAs) to date. India, Australia and Taiwan account for 89% of overall capacity in the region.

A unit of Philippines-based clean energy company ACEN Corp. has agreed to develop the 400 MW Stubbo Solar Farm in Australia.

A new scientific paper takes a closer look at the record-breaking efficiency that Australia’s Sundrive announced for a silver-free heterojunction cell in September 2021, as certified by Germany’s Institute for Solar Energy Research.

Scientists have proposed a way to combine thermoelectric modules (TEMs) with rooftop PV to support heating, ventilation and air conditioning in buildings. They designed a wall-integrated TEM to heat and cool adjacent rooms.

BHP has signed a 70 MW baseload renewable energy contract with Neoen to meet 50% of the energy demand of its Olympic Dam mining operations in South Australia.

Australia’s two main tracker companies, Nextracker and Array Technologies, are launching terrain-following products to mitigate and even eliminate the need for earthworks on site, opening up previously unsuitable land for solar.