Australia

Real Energy, an oil and gas developer, continues to pursue its hydrogen ambitions. It recently entered into a key partnership with Port Anthony Renewables to build and develop a large-scale hydrogen production facility in the Australian state of Victoria.

The rise and rise of rooftop solar PV has established Australia as a renewable energy powerhouse, with new figures from the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) revealing the nation achieved a record in renewable capacity in 2020.

Reclaim PV is now one step closer to ensuring that solar generation lives up to the promise of providing clean energy throughout its life cycle, and that repurposing its component materials becomes viable.

Australia’s Star Scientific has signed a deal with the Department of Energy in the Philippines to use its hydrogen tech. The partnership could see Star Scientific transform every coal-fired power plant in the nation to green hydrogen, while also using the tech to provide desalinated water.

Spanish-Japanese renewable energy company Univergy Solar and local partner New Energy Development are set to begin construction on the 120 MW Wallaroo Solar Farm on the border between New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory by the end of 2021. The agrivoltaic installation will operate symbiotically as a generator of clean energy, grazing land and a thriving habitat for native vegetation and pollinators.

Canadian behemoth Atco has purchased the rights to develop the 325 MW Central West Pumped Storage Hydro Project in Central West New South Wales and credits the investment to policy certainty from the NSW Government. As a significant firming agent the project is ideally placed in the state’s proposed Central West-Orana Renewable Energy Zone.

National Energy Resources Australia has actioned its instructions from the 2019 National Hydrogen Strategy by investing an initial $1.75 million in 13 regional clusters across all states and territories designed to establish Australia’s global identity in hydrogen technology and expertise.

The world’s biggest solar+storage project is a step closer to realization, as the government of Australia’s Northern Territory and Singapore-based Sun Cable have signed a deal to advance the development of the Australia-ASEAN Power Link.

In November, Cornwall Insight estimated that Australia had 7 GW of battery storage projects in the pipeline. Since then, massive amounts of storage capacity have been added.

Sumitomo has signed a contract with an EPC for a PV-powered green hydrogen plant in Queensland, and has also started a feasibility study for a gray-green hybrid hydrogen project in Oman.