Iberdrola, a Spanish energy provider, has commissioned the Port Augusta wind-solar hybrid facility in Australia, considered to be the world’s first of its kind. A 210 MW wind farm and a 107 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant make up the 317 MW hybrid project.
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Oz Minerals, a Sydney-listed miner has given its final investment permission to develop the massive copper-nickel project in Western Australia. The company has stated that it will initially obtain 80 per cent of the energy needs for the West Musgrave Project through an off-grid hybrid renewable power solution.
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Neoen Australia, a producer of renewable energy, has submitted planning documents for the construction of a stand-alone 1 GW / 4 GWh battery energy storage system (BESS) near Collie, Western Australia. Reportedly, the big battery would be constructed on a 31-hectare location 12 km to the northeast of Collie and 215 km to the southeast of Perth.
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Global Power Generation, a joint venture between the Spanish energy provider Naturgy and the Kuwait Investment Authority, has acquired the Cunderdin hybrid solar project in Australia. A 55 MW battery energy storage system (BESS) and about 125 MWdc of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity will be used in the Cunderdin project. The hybrid facility will be built by SBP close to Cunderdin in Western Australia and connected to the South West Interconnected System (SWIS).
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The project seeks to answer critical contemporary questions, such as, what physical plant infrastructure and societal changes are needed to decarbonize the Australian economy, including exports, by mid-century and how will these changes impact natural environments, the economy, incumbent infrastructure, and communities.
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Australia’s National Electricity Market (NEM) is witnessing a once-in-a-century shift in the manner electricity is generated and consumed. As the country races to meet the target of net zero by 2050, the NEM will see a replacement of legacy assets with low-cost renewables, deployment of energy storage and other forms of firming capacity, and reconfiguration of the power grid to enable bidirectional energy flows.
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Akaysha Energy, an Australian company with more than 1 GW of energy storage capacity in its portfolio, has been acquired by US investment giant BlackRock. No financial details of the deal have been disclosed. BlackRock has committed to investing more than $700 million to assist the development of battery storage assets in Australia. The transaction was carried out through the company’s Climate Infrastructure business.
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Genex Power, an Australian energy company, has agreed to purchase the development rights to a 2 GW solar and battery energy storage system plant in Queensland. The Bulli Creek Clean Energy Project is situated in south-east Queensland, nearly 100 km southwest of Toowoomba. It will be developed in five phases on a 5,000ha area of land. Solar Choice, an Australian producer of solar energy equipment, will sell the project rights to Genex.
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Greenspot, an Australian investment firm, has received approval from the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Planning and Environment for a battery energy storage system (BESS) project. The 500 MW/1,000 MWh project will be built on the site of the disused Wallerawang Power Station near Lithgow. An investment of about $280 million is anticipated to be needed.
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Australia is moving apace to meet its net zero target by 2050. The country’s policymakers and regulators are extensively reviewing the existing regulatory framework to make sure it is flexible enough to support the ongoing energy transition. Since transmission is an important enabler in this process, the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) recently published its recommendations in its draft report on ‘Transmission Planning and Investment Review (Stage 2).’
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It is a call to action that demonstrates how the transport sector can deliver more sustainable outcomes through innovation, ideation and collaboration. It sets out a series of proposed actions for government and industry that support a focus on place, drive emissions reduction, support investment in renewables and smart technologies, and promote engagement and collaboration across the transport asset lifecycle.
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Australia does not have any federal laws in place that deal directly with hydrogen. There are existing funding mechanisms in place, as well as new announcements from the Labor government aimed at encouraging renewables development. The federal government has also taken the lead in trying to achieve harmonisation across the states in the regulation of hydrogen. This Legal Update provides a brief overview of the existing and planned legislation for hydrogen in Australia’s six states and two territories.
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wpd offshore Australia Holding, part of Germany’s wpd Group has signed a joint venture (JV) with Australis Energy to construct three offshore wind energy projects off the coast of Australia. The three offshore wind projects will be constructed in the coastal waters of Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia, and will have a combined capacity of 1.4 GW.
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A recent White Paper found that industrial demand centres in Germany and the EU are ready to offtake five million tonnes of green hydrogen per year at present, with an addressable market of up to 27 million tonnes annually in the long term. In May (2022), the European Commission unveiled its REPowerEU plan which had ambitions of producing 10 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen annually, while importing a further 10 million tonnes.
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The Asian Renewable Energy Hub (AREH) has reached an agreement with bp to sell a 40.5 per cent stake in the large renewables and green hydrogen hub. AREH intends to gradually expand the production of onshore wind and solar energy in the Pilbara region of West Australia, and achieve an overall capacity of 26 GW of solar and wind energy. This project will provide energy exports to countries like Japan and South Korea in order to serve the domestic Australian market.
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Corio Generation, a Macquarie Green Investment Group portfolio company, plans to develop a 2.5GW wind farm off the coast of Victoria, Australia. The Great Eastern Offshore Wind Facility will be built 22 km off the Wellington Shire in Gippsland, Victoria. The project is expected to generate enough clean energy to power around 1.6 million homes.
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Rio Tinto Group, an Anglo-Australian mining company, has issued a request for proposal (RFP) to develop 4 GW of utility-scale wind and solar power projects for its aluminium projects in central and southern Queensland, bordering south Australia. The large-scale renewable projects would assist the company in achieving its climate change targets, which are aligned with the Paris Accord.
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Shifting from private passenger vehicle use to zero emissions public transport will help curb Australia’s rising transport emissions. When considering other factors, such as population growth – particularly in urban areas – and the significant non-CO2 pollutant emissions associated with traditional diesel buses, it is clear that electrification of buses should be a central pillar of any transport decarbonisation strategy.
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Cbus Super, an Australian superannuation fund, has acquired a 10 per cent stake in Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners’ (CIP) 2.2 GW Star of the South offshore wind project. This follows Cbus’ investment in CIP’s flagship fund, CI IV, which owns the majority stake in Star of the South. No financial details of the deal have been disclosed. Star of the South will be constructed off the coast of Victoria’s Gippsland.
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The Australian federal election was held on 21 May 2022. The Labor Party, led by Anthony Albanese, defeated the Liberal-National Coalition, led by Scott Morrison. Without a carbon market, federal and state governments have since sought to incentivise renewables through subsidies and the establishment of several green funds and schemes. The new Labor government plans to continue this approach.
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