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

  • 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

August 8, 2025
Ampyr Australia has officially started construction on its 300MW/600MWh Wellington Stage 1 BESS in New South Wales.
August 8, 2025
Australian energy major AGL Energy has confirmed that two transformers for the 1,000MWh Liddell battery energy storage system (BESS) in New South Wales have been delivered.
August 7, 2025
AES Andes, part of the US-based energy giant AES, has launched construction on two hybrid renewables-plus-storage projects in Chile with 2.2GWh of co-located BESS.
August 7, 2025
The hugely anticipated draft National Electricity Market (NEM) review report, led by Tim Nelson, has been released, outlining key market reforms with implications for energy storage.
Premium
August 6, 2025
Energy-Storage.news Premium speaks with microgrid solutions provider BoxPower’s Director of Business Development, Fallon Vaughan and Sales and Marketing Coordinator Noa Schachtel, about the company’s microgrid offerings.

Most Popular

Email Newsletter