Australian PM reveals major energy storage push

LinkedIn
Twitter
Reddit
Facebook
Email

Large-scale solar plants in Australia are on the rise with almost 500MW contracted by ARENA in 2016. Source: ARENA.
Australia will launch a new large-scale energy storage funding round, the country’s prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has revealed.

“Energy storage, long neglected in Australia, will also be a priority this year,” he said in a speech to the National Press Club.

“Last week at my request, ARENA [Austrian Renewable Energy Agency] and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, agreed to work together on a new funding round for large-scale storage and other flexible capacity projects including pumped hydro.

“I’ve also written to Alan Finkel [Australia’s chief scientist], asking him to advise on the role of storage and pumped hydro in stabilising the grid.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Enjoy 12 months of exclusive analysis

Not ready to commit yet?
  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Annual digital subscription to the PV Tech Power journal
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

“Large-scale storage will support variable renewables like wind and solar. It will get more value out of existing baseload generation and it will enhance grid stability. We’re going to get on with it,” claimed Turnbull.

Australian state governments are able to incentivise renewables outside of federal programmes and Turnbull said this had created instability on the grid.

“States are setting huge renewable targets, far beyond that of the national [target], with no consideration given to the baseload power and storage needed for stability.

“South Australia – now with the most expensive and least secure energy has had its wake-up call – one storm blacked out the entire state,” he said.

The country has an active residential solar and storage market but the utility-scale energy storage market is embryonic.

Read Next

October 8, 2025
Some quick snapshots from the presentations and panels at Energy Storage Summit Asia 2025, taking place this week in Manila, Philippines.
October 8, 2025
The NSW Independent Planning Commission has granted planning approval for Potentia Energy’s 500MW Tallawang solar-plus-storage project.
October 7, 2025
BSW-Solar has called on the German government to impose a target of 100GWh of cumulative operational BESS by 2030.
October 7, 2025
Matt Szwec, an energy trading analyst at Fluence, discusses virtual battery toll agreements and how they operate in Australia.
Premium
October 7, 2025
ESN Premium speaks with Fluence’s Matt Grover about the need for sophisticated software solutions to enhance battery trading.

Most Popular

Email Newsletter