From pv magazine Australia

While 2023 is still trailing 2021 for small-scale solar installations, the difference is now only 150 MW, or 7%, according to data from Sunwiz. In 2021, the fourth quarter was the most tumultuous three-month period. On the other hand, elevated lead levels and a spike in Google searches suggests that the fourth quarter of this year will contend for the strongest period in 2023.

“I think there’s already a good deal of momentum backed in and that we are going to see elevated levels [of sales],” Warwick Johnston, managing director of Sunwiz, tells pv magazine Australia. “I suspect we are going to have a strong October, so we’re up for a record year.”

Lead volumes this September were up 78% compared to the number of quote requests in September 2021, Sunwiz has found. Many customers are npw turning to Google to find out about installing solar.

“I’m seeing consumer interest levels 10 to 20% up on what they were in the same time of previous year. All this hasn’t yet flowed through to leads proposals and sales,” Johnston said of the spike in Google trends for “solar” and “solar panel.” He said that it's “the highest level it's been … and paybacks [on solar systems] are all improving now, so that bodes well for 2024 as well. My prediction is that we are going to have a strong finish to the year and have a record year for 2023.”

The average size of solar systems in Australia is also at record high, with especially strong growth in 10 kW to 15 kW systems. “The reason is because you’ve got commercial doing really, really well. Record year for commercial.”

Falling prices

Another interesting trend is that while Australian solar system prices are now falling after the pandemic hike, this has not translated to customers spending less overall.

This is demonstrated in the above two graphs, with the total dollar customer spend on top and dollars per watt below.

“If you look at the dollar total spend, it’s pretty consistent and flat. So this to me is saying as panels are getting cheaper, people are putting more of them on,” Johnston said.

From pv magazine Australia

Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has harnessed sub-millimeter ceramic particles to store energy in a concentrated solar thermal system. Its pilot plant in the state of New South Wales has successfully reached temperatures of 803 C through this method.

The agency said the novel concept increases temperatures in the process from 500 C to 800 C, and possibly more than 1,000 C. This holds promise for decarbonizing heavy industry, which can require extreme heat for processing. It also overcomes some of the limitations of heat transfer fluids traditionally used in concentrated solar thermal (CST) technologies, said the CSIRO.

To continue reading, please visit our pv magazine Australia website. 

From pv magazine Australia

Panasonic and Australia's Reclaim Energy have teamed up to offer heat pump technology that can heat water up to 80 C, for both residential and commercial use.

The offering pairs Panasonic’s CO2 Heat Pump with Reclaim Energy’s hot water system design. It will be available in Australia from December.

Panasonic’s CO2 Heat Pump boasts a 6.1 coefficient of performance, meaning for every unit of electrical energy used, 6.1 units of heating energy is produced. 

Heat pumps are gaining traction in Australia, with a recent report from Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator noting that air source heat pumps installations are up 70% compared to the first half of 2022.

From pv magazine Australia

The project is to be located on a 90-hectare site in Plumpton, 25 kilometers northwest of Melbourne. It is owned by Equis Development, with backing from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board.

Initially, Equis was aiming for the MREH to go into operations by 2024. The MREH website currently says that a “notice to proceed for construction is planned for late 2023 with commercial operations expected to commence in 2025.”

To continue reading, please visit our pv magazine Australia website. 

From pv magazine Australia

Octopus Investments Australia has purchased the 500 MW/1 GWh Blackstone big battery project from its initial developer, Firm Power.

The installation has been proposed for a site in Swanbank, about 40 kilometers from Brisbane, Queensland. It is still very much in the development stages and is only expected to reach a final investment decision in the second half of 2025. Octopus Investments Australia still needs to organize connection agreements with Powerlink, in addition to securing offtake, according to the Australian Financial Review.

Octopus Investments Australia acquired the battery project using capital from its OASIS fund, a platform it set up in 2022 for institutional investors. The OASIS investment platform has raised AUD 550 million ($346 million) over the last year, attracting backing from superannuation giants Hostplus and Rest Super, as well as Clean Energy Finance Corp. (CEFC).

Octopus Investments Australia has had a busy year, acquiring the 175 MW Ardandra project, which sits adjacent to its existing 180 MW Dulacca Wind Farm, both of which are in Queensland. In May, Octopus Investments Australia also acquired a 400 MW Hay Plains wind project in southwestern New South Wales.

Earlier this year, Octopus Investments Australia revealed plans to fold two proposed hybrid installations into its OASIS and OREO investment platforms. They are the 80 MW Fulham solar project in southeastern Victoria, featuring a 120 MWh battery, and the 350 MW Blind Creek agrisolar project in New South Wales, with a 300 MW/600 MWh battery.

Desert Springs Octopus, a majority Indigenous-owned company backed by Octopus Investments Australia, also signed a series of agreements with First Nations groups from Darwin and Katherine in August. Octopus Investments Australia will work with the groups to develop a number of renewable projects in the Northern Territory.

From pv magazine Australia

After construction began in June 2021, the 204 MW (DC) Edenvale Solar Park celebrated reaching its rated power output late last week. Japanese oil giant Eneos and trading company Sojitz each own a 50% stake in the Edenvale solar project, which will supply a portion of its energy to Queensland’s Gregory Crinum coking coal mine, owned an operated by Sojitz.

The Edendale Solar Park sits on approximately 428 hectares near Chinchilla, west of Brisbane. The project has deployed roughly 400,000 solar panels and was constructed by Spanish-headquartered Gransolar, which is believed to also hold its operation and maintenance contract.

In the joint Eneos and Sojitz announcement, the pair said that “Edenvale represents the largest solar project in Australia to be undertaken by Japanese companies.”

Back in 2021, when construction on the project began, the partners said Edenvale would sell 70% of its output to “a local electricity retailer at a fixed price” while the remaining 30% would be supplied to Sojitz’ nearby Gregory Crinum coal mine. In the latest release, the numbers are not so definite, with the announcement simply saying “a portion of the energy produced” would go to Gregory Crinum coal mine. Sojitz has had a long involvement with Queensland’s mining industry.

The project marks Eneos’ first solar project in Australia, and earlier this year the company opened a green hydrogen demonstration plant at Bulwer Island in Brisbane. The scale of the project is relatively small, producing just 20 kilograms of green hydrogen a day, but it is part of Eneos’ broader strategy to establish a green hydrogen supply chain in Australia and eventually begin exporting to Japan.

“To establish the supply chain, Eneos continues to gain expertise in renewable energy development in Australia,” the company said, pointing back to Edendale as part of this approach.

Edendale was initially developed by Singapore-based DPI Solar 3, but DPI’s stake was bought by Eneos in 2021 via its joint venture holding company with Sojitz, Sapphire Energy Pty Ltd.

Edendale is connected the transmission grid via Powerlink’s existing Orana substation within the Southern Queensland Renewable Energy Zone.

From pv magazine Australia

Although Tongwei is an established company, it formerly had no presence in the Australian market and was largely focused on upstream solar manufacturing. It began seeking out Clean Energy Council approval for its own brand of panels in 2020, but has significantly ramped up its presence in 2023.

“Definitely the entrance of TW Solar in the market has shaken things up,” Sunwiz Managing Director Warwick Johnston told pv magazine Australia.

Despite being competitive in its pricing, it appears that TW Solar has actually carved out most of its market share from the premium side, said Johnston. Premium panel market share was previously sitting at around 20% and is now down around 10%, he noted.

However, Tongwei are “not the only ones knocking on the doors of Australians,” Johnston said, noting a recent uptick in manufacturers expanding into the Australian market.

“So there’s super cheap panels that are coming through and everyone will have to adjust their prices accordingly,” he said.

To continue reading, please visit our pv magazine Australia website.

From pv magazine Australia

To continue reading, please visit our pv magazine Australia website.

From pv magazine Australia

GoodWe has started offering its Polaris Series solar carport panels in Australia as part of a broader push into the nation's building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) market.

The Polaris panels are tailored for carports and shade rooftops, said the company.

“The products effectively overcome significant limitations found in conventional panels for similar applications,” said Apollo Chai, head of BIPV marketing for GoodWe Australia. “It adapts to diverse application scenarios, including carports, flat-to-pitched roof conversions, and sun sheds.”

It noted that the Polaris Series addresses these issues in its design, which includes water-protective grooves to contain wiring. GoodWe said the Polaris panels are capable of withstanding static loads of up to 5400 Pa on the front side and 2400 Pa on the back, making them equipped for extreme weather conditions, including hurricanes.

The Polaris panels have a power output of 550 W and an efficiency of 20.4%. They are certified by Germany’s TÜV and have been included in the Clean Energy Council’s approved product list.

GoodWe introduced two other BIPV products to the Australian market in the last year, including the ultra lightweight Galaxy panel, designed for low load-bearing rooftops, and a solar tile known as Sunshine Tiles.

From pv magazine Australia

Recent analysis from solar and storage analyst Sunwiz shows that Australia’s large-scale renewable segment is languishing. Looking at the Sunwiz graphs breaking down large-scale certificates (LGCs) registered in each state, the graphs reveal the segment is utterly flat in most regions.

“Look at how much flatness there is. It’s only really Queensland that is going up right now,” Sunwiz’s Warwick Johnston told pv magazine Australia.

Over the last three years, both Queensland and New South Wales (NSW) have pulled way in front of the other states. Nonetheless, even New South Wales has had an incredibly flat 2023.

These figures encompass both utility-scale renewable generation projects as well as larger commercial and industrial installations, Johnston noted.

“There will inevitably be more businesses putting solar on in the coming six months, and so the pressure that has built up will get released in that [C&I] segment,” he said. “But such a stall that has occurred at the level of grid-scale solar, we don’t see it being resolved – not in any fast, quick and soon way. The energy transition in Australia is at risk of losing its social license if we continue to go so slowly because people will face high electricity prices if coal isn’t replaced with renewables. There’s a lot of barriers there that absolutely have to be addressed so we can get cheap, bulk energy. But we need that cheap bulk energy now and in the coming two, three years.”

He expressed concern about the reduction of subsidies for small-scale projects while waiting for solutions in the large-scale sector. He also noted the potential risks associated with this approach.

He is referring to the gradual winding back of Australia’s small-scale certificate scheme, which will end completely in 2030. He said that one way to get things flowing better would be to make commercial solar up to 1 MW eligible for STCs. In his eyes, “not enough” is happening in the regulatory space to start solving the issues of grid scale solar, including approval delays, grid connection and transmission.

From pv magazine Australia

Under new ownership, SunCable plans to flood Darwin with about 4 GW of solar energy. It is also looking to move forward with its projects, including subsea cables between Darwin and Singapore, but at a significantly more modest scale, at least initially.

SunCable said in a statement that its ambition is to now supply just 6 GW of firmed renewable energy in multiple stages, beginning with “at least” 900 MW of green power to Darwin and 1.75 GW to Singapore.

To realize this, the company will be split into a domestic Australian division, to be overseen by Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, an Australian investment company that holds a stake in the project. 

SunCable's international division, meanwhile, will continue to work on the Australia-Asia Power Link (AAPowerLink) proposal to build a high-voltage (HV) subsea cable between Darwin and Singapore. It will file its submission to the Singaporean Energy Market Authority to secure an energy import conditional licence later this month.

If SunCable is able to deliver this first stage, it will move forward with its original mega-project proposal to build up to 20 GW of solar near Powell Creek, in Australia's Northern Territory.

From pv magazine Australia

In August, Australia’s residential favorite solar system size, 6.6 kW, became more expensive on a per kilowatt basis than systems ranging from 10 kW to 15 kW. It is the first time the range from 6.3 kW to 8 kW has been dethroned on price.

SunWiz Managing Director Warwick Johnston told pv magazine Australia that the shift is due to rising competition. That is, 6.6 kW solar systems have traditionally been the mainstay for solar installers in Australia, so those selling different systems have had less competition.

“Now people have cottoned on, finally, to the [10+ kW] market being as almost as large as the 6.6 kW market,” Johnston said. Now with significantly more installers selling in this 10 kW plus market, competitive pressure has increased, he added. “Plus, people have got more experience in how to install those jobs.”

Another noteworthy trend emerging from Australia’s solar market is that leads continue to spike, even though fewer customers are actively seeking installations.

“Customers aren’t going out and searching for solar anymore than they used to, but there are definitely lots more leads flowing through,” Johnston said. “I haven’t seen such a strongly defined difference before.”

From pv magazine Australia

To date, Western Australia has been the main focus of lithium exploration in Australia, but recent research indicates that other regions also hold significant potential.

“We’ve developed the first map of lithium in Australian soils which identifies areas with elevated concentrations,” said the study’s senior author, Professor Budiman Minasny. He claimed that the findings could have significant implications for the lithium industry in Australia.

The team used digital soil mapping techniques developed at the University of Sydney to gauge extractable lithium content present in soil samples collected across Australia. While the highest lithium concentrations were found near the Mount Marion deposit of Western Australia , the study suggests potential lithium sources in Australia spread well beyond this region.

“The map agrees with existing mines and highlights areas that can be potential future lithium sources,” said Minasny.

The research aimed to paint a comprehensive overview of lithium distribution across Australia. The study was published in Earth System Science Data.

Image: Australian government

From pv magazine Australia

The tender will target 600 MW of dispatchable capacity with the equivalent of four hours of duration, or 2.4 GWh, across Victoria and South Australia.

The bids are among the first to be launched as part of the federal government’s Capacity Investment Scheme, which was unveiled last year. The scheme will underwrite new zero-emissions storage in Australia, including big batteries, hydrogen, and pumped hydro, to incentivise and accelerate projects as coal plants rapidly retire.

The scheme will see the federal government pay revenue shortfalls based on a pre-agreed floor value, guaranteeing projects baseline income. If revenues exceed an agreed price ceiling, the government will take a share of profits.

In terms of the Victorian and South Australian bids, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) will conduct the two-stage tender process. In a joint release, the federal, South Australian and Victorian governments noted the draft term sheets and detailed tender timelines will be released in the coming weeks, with registration for the tender to open in September.

Projects that have reached Final Investment Decision since the Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) was announced in December 2022 are also eligible for support, the governments noted.

Projects will be assessed on their ability to support reliability at the lowest cost while ensuring increased capacity is delivered in both jurisdictions. The announcement also pointed out the states are interconnected, meaning both jurisdictions will benefit from storage on either side of the border.

The Victorian and South Australian tender appears to have been fast tracked, with the federal government formerly flagging announcement dates in October.

This tender is additional to an expanded tender currently running in New South Wales. In June, it was announced that a partnership between New South Wales and the Commonwealth governments would boost a 380 MW firming tender, organised as part of the NSW Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap, to 930 MW. The more than doubling of the tender target came as a result of Commonwealth Capacity Investment Scheme funding, underwriting an additional 550 MW of firmed capacity for New South Wales.

Overall, the Capacity Investment Scheme is seekingto unlock an estimated AUD 10 billion ($6.6 billion) in private and public sector investment in new dispatchable storage and generation across Australia.

The national rollout of the Capacity Investment Scheme in 2024 will include more auctions in Victoria and South Australia.

From pv magazine Australia

The site adjacent to Stanwell Power Station on Queensland’s mid-coast is now home to 10 iron flow batteries, with another 10 to follow suit shortly,* as the state government-owned energy company Stanwell Corp. prepares to transform its soon-to-be retiring coal plant to a AUD 100 million ($64 million) hub for renewable commercialisation testing, research, development and training.

The iron flow batteries use the technology of US-based Energy Storage Solutions, better known as ESS. Inc, for which local company Energy Storage Industries owns the Asia-Pacific licence. The pilot batteries are each 12 meters long and have a combined capacity of 1 MW/10 MWh. In its announcement, the Queensland government said the installation marks Australia’s first iron flow battery and the largest such installation in the world.

Energy Storage Industries (ESI) Managing Director Stuart Parry told pv magazine Australia the battery project is expected to be operational by September 2024. Once fully commissioned, Stanwell will acquire the flow battery, saying that it is aiming deliver service and maintenance on the pilot.

The iron flow battery deal is just one element of the transformation of Stanwell Power Station into the Stanwell Clean Energy Hub. This will include a AUD 100 million Future Energy and Innovation Training Hub (FEITH), described as a mall-sized “sandbox” for new technologies in wind, solar, hydrogen and battery storage.

Stanwell is also partnering with hydrogen electrolyzer technology company Hysata, a spinoff from research conducted at the University of Wollongong, which claims to have the world’s most efficient electrolysis cell. Stanwell’s Rockhampton hub will host 5 MW pilot project with Hysata’s electrolyzer technology to validate its commercialisation potential and technical performance. To that end, Stanwell will provide AUD 3 million and supply the site and facilities for the field deployment of the electrolyser at the site.

While news of the Stanwell coal plant’s transformation was only made Monday, work seems to have already began in the form of the battery delivery, and the government noted it will establish common infrastructure and civil works “in late 2023.”

The Stanwell hub is to be realised in stages, with the announcement flagging the AUD 100 million investment will be deployed over the next five years.

In early August, the Queensland government committed AUD 24 million to further evaluate and assess the capacity of flow battery technology to help the state meet its renewable energy targets. Of that funding, AUD 12 million went towards an iron flow battery from ESI.

To continue reading, please visit our pv magazine Australia website.

From pv magazine Australia

A team of researchers at Western Australia’s Edith Cowan University have redesigned zinc-air batteries and claim to have overcome the technology’s notorious power output limitations.

“The new design has been so efficient it suppressed the internal resistance of batteries, and their voltage was close to the theoretical voltage which resulted in a high peak power density and ultra-long stability,” said research lead Muhammad Rizwan Azhar.

Zinc-air batteries consist of a zinc negative electrode and an air positive electrode. The chemistry holds promise and is significantly more sustainable than lithium-based counterparts, but the poor performance of air electrodes and short lifespan has limited the technology’s power output and ultimately its reach.

However, the Edith Cowan University team, says it has made a breakthrough in the technology which has enabled engineers to use a combination of new materials, such as carbon, cheaper iron and cobalt based minerals, to overcome these issues. The redesigned zinc-air batteries have emerged as a better alternative to lithium, according to the team’s recent study.

“Rechargeable zinc-air batteries (ZABs) are becoming more appealing because of their low cost, environmental friendliness, high theoretical energy density, and inherent safety,” said Azhar.

Lithium batteries rely on high-cost, finite resources, and also have safety issues.

”With the emergence of next-generation long-range vehicles and electric aircraft in the market, there is an increasing need for safer, more cost-effective, and high-performance battery systems that can surpass the capabilities of lithium-ion batteries,” said Azhar. “By using natural resources, such as zinc from Australia and air, this further enhances the cost-effectiveness and viability of these innovative zinc-air batteries for the future.”

From pv magazine Australia

Spanish energy giant Acciona Energia, Italy’s Enel Green Power, and a joint bid from Australian energy heavyweight Origin and Sydney-based renewables outfit Energy Estate have been shortlisted to deliver what would be one of Queensland’s largest renewable energy projects.

QEM said the bidding process to deliver the 1 GW capacity project had generated strong interest and commercial negotiations with the shortlisted parties will commence later this month.

QEM Managing Director Gavin Loyden said the company had prioritised the design and development of the renewables project with the primary objective of obtaining low-cost power for its flagship Julia Creek project.

“Critical minerals like vanadium are vital for the global transition to clean energy,” he said. “The opportunity for QEM and the broader North West Minerals Province is to harness the region’s wind and solar resource above the ground to explore, develop and refine the critical minerals under it.”

The proposed wind and solar project would not only deliver energy to the proposed mine but also connect into the AUD 5 billion ($3.3 billion) CopperString transmission line that is to link Queensland’s isolated northwest to Australia’s national grid. The transmission project, which is being delivered by Queensland government-owned network operator Powerlink, is expected to link an estimated 6 GW of renewable energy resources into the National Electricity Market, while also opening up access to large deposits of minerals seen as key to the energy transition.

Colin Langton, director of operations of the CopperString project at Powerlink, said the “scale of renewable generation at Julia Creek will be integral to the overall CopperString project … With the high quality and enormous potential scale of renewables in the area, the north and northwest is well positioned to become the future powerhouse of Queensland.”

QEM said it has been conducting wind and solar monitoring at the Julia Creek site for the past 12 months to de-risk the hybrid wind and solar project. Environmental assessments, topographic surveys, preliminary flood modeling and geotechnical studies have also been completed.

Loyden said the “highly encouraging” monitoring results would form a crucial component of the pre-feasibility study for the proposed renewables project.

From pv magazine Australia

In 2015, Sunwiz Managing Director Warwick Johnston warned large-scale solar developers that rooftop PV installations would end up eating their lunch.

“Now what I see is more nuanced and circular than that – renewables will eat itself,” he tells pv magazine Australia. “Transmission takes a long time to built … while you’re waiting for that transmission, there will be volatile and higher electricity prices. The natural response to that will be to install rooftop PV or install storage, potentially local storage, potentially local transmission-enhancing storage, all that sort of stuff.”

While this business case conundrum most pointedly impacts big battery projects, which earn most of their revenue from spot markets, distributed energy resources like rooftop solar and network batteries will continue to utterly transform energy systems.

The demand forecasts which have underpinned much of Australia’s transition modeling to date are increasingly being questioned, given the fact models – as Kuiper points out – have the shortfall of relying on a past which is likely completely different to the energy future.

Johnston describes the assumption that Australia should be building copious amounts of transmission as something that has remained, until vey recently, “unexamined.” A growing choir of industry insiders are questioning whether the current extent of planned transmission projects are in fact vital, but this is also a relatively recent shift.

To continue reading, please visit our pv magazine USA website. 

From pv magazine Australia

It was engineer Geoff Elwood’s experience of lockdown in the Australian outback that inspired him to develop a new range of mobile solar generators, he says. With 7.2 kWh of storage and 6 kW of power, Decarbon Venture says its products are the most powerful mobile generators on the market today and outdo gas rivals.

“They are also much lighter and less expensive to operate than equivalent gas-powered generators,” said Eldwood.

The DCV AirBase ecosystem includes foldable 400 W solar panels which connect to a semi-solid state battery. The storage component is modular and comes in three variations:

• AirBase Quad, with 7.2 kWh of storage, weighing 42 kg
• AirBase Duo, with 3.6 kWh of storage, weighing 22 kg
• AirBase Power Module, with 1.8 kWh at 8 kg

The system is designed for car camping, boating, off-grid living, and potentially home backups. This is a highly popular market segment among Chinese manufacturers, with a multitude of such products on display at the Smart Energy Conference in May.

Decarbon Venture, however, emphasizes its Australian-outback readiness – which is a decidedly tough natural environment. The company also says it is the first such product to allow batteries to be removed and replaced with fresh batteries without powering down.

“I wanted to build an evergreen solution that uses modular power cells that can be swapped when needed, and can be scaled up or down,” Elwood said.

Decarbon Venture’s family of AirBase generators will initially be sold through a Kickstarter campaign in late August.

From pv magazine Australia

New South Wales-based startup Key Energy has installed a 8 kW/32 kWh three-phase flywheel mechanical energy storage system at a property in the Sawyers Valley, just east of Perth.

The installation involved a single flywheel, which stores energy mechanically meaning it has no fire risks, can run around 11,000 cycles without capacity degradation and boasts a 20-year to 30-year lifespan. While these systems have low energy density, they are substantially more durable than lithium-ion based chemical batteries.

This was a major drawcard for the owner of the Sawyers Valley property, who wanted a system that did not pose a fire risk, could power their three-phase loads and provide energy security as blackouts frequently affect the area.

The project marks Key Energy’s fourth installation, with another two expected to be commissioned this year. In total, the company has installed around 16 flywheel systems with over 300 kWh of capacity, including at a boarding school and at gas company APA Group’s commercial off-grid device stations.

Key Energy says it aims to leverage this residential flywheel installation, as well as future projects, to qualify its technology for Western Australia's Stand Alone Power System (SAPS) program, run by state-owned utilities Western Power and Horizon Power. The program is part of the state’s broad strategy to replace its stringy regional network of poles and wires with renewable standalone alternatives, which usually include a solar array, battery and last-resort diesel generator. These systems have been found by the state to be far cheaper and significantly reduce carbon emissions.

Flywheel battery systems are usually installed underground – a lengthy and costly process. Key Energy previously worked with the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) to develop an above-ground enclosure for its storage systems. Key Energy says this has allowed it to shorten install times from one to two weeks with underground systems to just two days in the Sawyers Valley project.

Key Energy says it is also developing additional functionality for the flywheel, paving the way for virtual power plants (VPPs) which it believes could capitalise on the flywheel system’s robust cycling characteristics and long lifespan.

Key energy, founded in 2018, is based in the Sydney suburb of Chippendale and has a test site in nearby Alexandria. Since launching, it has attracted funding from the New South Wales government, City of Sydney and Energy Lab.

Key Energy’s flywheels are sourced from US-headquartered company Amber Kinetics, though the rest of the battery system is believed to be manufactured in Australia.

From pv magazine Australia

French energy giant Engie and Eku Energy, the battery storage platform of Macquarie Group, have commissioned Australia's first big battery in Victoria's Latrobe Valley. The 150 MW/150 MWh battery has been developed and funded through their joint efforts, marking a significant milestone as it operates within a former coal site.

The Hazelwood battery is believed to be Australia’s largest privately funded utility-scale battery to date. Energy Synapse founder Marija Petkovic recently pointed out that the commissioning of Hazelwood brings Australia to its first gigawatt of installed battery storage.

Hazelwood’s battery facility has been supplied, and will be operated and maintained, by US-based Fluence. The project is the first to use Fluence’s Gridstack battery system, which the company says is built for the “most demanding applications” including flexible peaking capacity, and frequency regulation. The facility incorporates 342 modular Fluence Cubes. While the battery currently only has one hour of duration, it is believed the project will eventually grow, in line with a broader trend in Australia for supersized batteries.

“With [the battery’s] access to transmission and available space at site, Hazelwood is the perfect location for an asset that can grow in depth and duration, increasing the hosting capacity for renewables,” said Engie Australian CEO Rik De Buyserie.

The Hazelwood site is reported to have access to 1.6 GW of dormant transmission capacity. The power station was built in the 1960s and closed in 2017. Power prices in Victoria soared as a consequence, and the debacle led to state governments to impose much stricter rules around notice periods of generation retirements.

From pv magazine Australia

The Melbourne Market Authority has switched on what is believed to be the largest rooftop solar system in the Australian state of Victoria. The 2.4 MW solar carpark will be used to load and park trucks. The system produces 3,000 MWh of solar energy per year and was installed by NGE / Beon Energy Solutions.

“Once the entire project is complete, the market will host a 10 MW rooftop solar panel system, which will be one of the largest rooftop installations in Australia,” said Melbourne Market Authority CEO Mark Maskiell.

The solar carpark system features 450 W LG panels and SolarEdge commercial inverters.

The Melbourne Market Authority, a Victorian government entity, links fresh food and flower growers with wholesalers, retailers and distributors.

From pv magazine Australia

Brisbane-based startup Endua has unveiled its first hydrogen battery in the Brisbane suburb of Archerfield, near its headquarters, as a testing platform. Endua’s hydrogen power bank uses electrolysis technology developed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and is capable of powering 100 kW per unit.

The Archerfield hydrogen battery provides enough power to drive a water pump, farm shed or standalone telecom infrastructure, Endua said. The solution is designed to replace diesel generators in off-grid and remote locations, with the company listing farms, telecoms infrastructure, and microgrid communities as potential users.

Endua’s hydrogen battery works by using renewable energy to power the small-scale, CSIRO-developed polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzer. The hydrogen is then stored as a compressed gas, and can be converted back to electricity on demand via the internal fuel cell.

“Our power banks mean we can decouple standalone and microgrid power systems from fossil fuel-generated diesel and provide a cheaper long-term solution than batteries,” said Endua CEO Paul Sernia.

The company said the hydrogen battery is highly configurable and can be scaled according to on-site demand due to its modular design.

Australia, especially Western Australia, has been rapidly deploying solar-driven standalone power stations and microgrids, as these technologies offer significant cost savings compared to maintaining poles and wires or diesel generators. However, these solutions almost always include a small diesel backup generator.

In May, the company said that it had raised more than AUD 11.8 million to scale up its hydrogen battery solution. Investors in the raise included the Queensland Investment Corp., Melt Ventures, Ampol, and the CSIRO.

Endua is currently in the process of commercializing the newly unveiled 100 kW power bank.

From pv magazine Australia

ACEN Australia, the Australian unit of Philippines-based clean energy company AC Energy, is set to install Australia’s biggest battery at 1.4 GW / 2.8 GWh near Uralla, in northern New South Wales.

The company said the New South Wales government has approved its plans to increase the size of its New England battery from 200 MW/400 MWh to a version seven times as large. The battery will be stationed next to ACEN Australia’s 720 MW (AC) New England Solar Farm. The first 400 MW stage of the solar farm opened in March.

From pv magazine Australia

Brisbane City Council has selected to install a Redflow battery to boost energy resilience at its Willawong Animal Rehoming Centre in Brisbane’s south.

The 30 kWh zinc-bromine flow battery project was deployed with Redflow’s new integration partner, Bright Spark Group, and includes two Deye hybrid inverters to allow for a solar system to be added in the future.

The Willawong Animal Rehoming Centre site is the first in the Brisbane City Council’s broader plan to boost resiliency at government sites across the city, dubbed the ‘Better Brisbane Proposals’ initiative. The Redflow battery system was funded through the program.

The Willawong Animal Rehoming Centre was selected for the initial site due to its ongoing issues with grid outages, which were impacting the storage of vaccines and medications.

Flow battery overview

Flow batteries are an intrinsically different beast from the predominant lithium-ion batteries, the domain of giants like Tesla. Lithium-ion batteries are solid-state batteries that store energy in metal. Flow batteries, on the other hand, store energy in electrolyte liquids. They are usually designed to have two tanks, one containing a positively-charged anode and the other with a negatively-charged cathode, separated by a membrane.

Using liquids allows flow batteries to produce electrical currents without degradation, giving the batteries a longer cycle life and allowing them to store charge for longer periods compared to lithium-ion batteries. Flow batteries can also be fully discharged without damage, and are easily scaleable – able to be fitted to one another to increase capacity.

Flow batteries also lend themselves to recycling, which is an aspect Redflow CEO and Managing Director Tim Harris thinks will become increasingly relevant for Redflow’s overall offering – especially given just 2% of Australia’s lithium-ion battery waste is currently recycled.

Flow batteries pitfall? Size. Tanks of fluid can, by nature, only be made so small. This is part of the reason lithium-ion batteries have been far quicker out the gate – we’ve needed small, high-powered batteries a lot longer than we have utility-scale ones. Despite being arguably less well suited for larger scale applications, lithium-ion batteries have benefited massively from their ubiquity and visibility, having been used for decades in our phones, laptop chargers and now in our EVs.

Redflow

After years of predictions around the dawning of the flow battery age, it appears the decades-old technology is finally capturing some of the storage market. In the last year, Redflow has expanded into the US market and has integrated its systems with a wide array of inverters.

There are a number of flow battery companies and projects gearing up in Australia, including Energy Storage Industries’ manufacturing plant in Maryborough, Queensland, where it will assemble iron-flow batteries from its “deep tech partner” ESS Inc. Sydney startup Gelion, and VSUN Energy, a subsidiary of Perth-based mining company Australian Vanadium Limited (AVL), are also seeking to expand both the manufacturing and deployments of flow batteries in Australia.