Western Australia is shaping up as the place to be for renewables developers with big plans and deep pockets, with a major new contender in the state emerging from the takeover of Waroona Energy by ASX-listed Frontier Energy. Frontier on Monday announced its successful acquisition of all outstanding shares of Canada-owned Waroona, in which it…
Another two eight hour lithium batteries have won contracts under the NSW government’s long duration storage tender, including one that will compete to be the biggest battery project in the country, in terms of megawatt hours of storage. Ark Energy, part of the Korea Zinc group, is to build a 275 MW, 2,200 MWh lithium-iron…
The New South Wales state government has secured another $4.2 billion in wind, solar and long duration storage projects – all likely at relatively low cost to the consumer – in another strong result from the tenders being held to pave the path away from coal. The latest tender results released on Tuesday deliver wins…
At a macro level, the energy transition will be filled with many large challenges to be solved. There are plenty of smaller, unexpected, and fascinating ones as well. I first heard of the ‘Russ Christ Effect’ (so named after its discoverer) during a presentation from Powerlink CEO Paul Simshauser last year. I was fascinated by…
Enel Green Power Australia has signed a long term off-take agreement with the Japanese owned retailer SmartestEnergy for its 93 MW Girgarre solar project in Victoria. The $140 million Girgarre solar project is located around 10 kms north-west of Stanhope and about 50kms west of Shepparton and is due to come on line in 2025….
The number of planning approvals in NSW for big renewable projects continues to accelerate with the NSW Independent Planning Commission announcing it has provided conditional approval for a 200 MW solar farm in the state’s Riverina Region The Glennellen solar project is being developed by China solar manufacturing giant Trina Solar and will be located…
Lightsource bp says it has sold five of its Australia solar project to the China-based Beijing Energy International Australia (BJEI Australia) for an equity value of $813 million. The portfolio, which amounts to a total of 1.04 GW (dc), includes the Wellington, West Wyalong and Woolooga projects which are already in operation, and the Wellington…
Australian households and their consumer energy resources – rooftop solar, electric cars, heat pumps, and electric cooktops – will play a critical and central role in the accelerating transition to renewables, and that may mean less dependence on large scale projects. There is a renewed focus on consumers and households in the draft 2024 Integrated…
Just weeks after having the brakes slammed on hoped-for large-scale renewable investment, Origin Energy has tipped a further $A530 million into one of the global leaders at the smaller-scale end of the clean energy spectrum, Octopus Energy. In a statement on Monday, Australia’s biggest utility – which straddles the market as both the nation’s biggest…
The Australian Energy Market Operator is predicting that the country’s remaining coal fired generators are likely to close much quicker than expected, saying they are becoming less reliable, more difficult to maintain and less able to compete with the growing share of renewables. AEMO’s draft 2024 Integrated System Plan, the latest version of its 30-year…
Renewable energy investors have slammed the planning approvals process in New South Wales, saying it takes to three times longer than other states for a renewable energy project to be approved, and the single wind farm approved in the last five years took nearly a decade to get over the line. “When it comes to…
2023 has been declared as the year of the big battery in Australia, as approvals for wind and solar fell to eight year lows, and construction starts and project completions for new generation fell well below what is required for the country’s 2030 renewables target. The Norway-based Rystad Energy has released its annual review for…