Swedish independent power producer (IPP) OX2 has confirmed it has started construction activities at the 100MW/300MWh Muswellbrook solar-plus-storage site in New South Wales (NSW), Australia.
Australian energy storage developer Enervest has acquired the Northern Border Battery, a 300MW battery energy storage system in development, from an unnamed Sydney-based developer.
Australia’s New South Wales has seen 532MW of firming projects contracted through its seventh infrastructure tender, securing two projects designed to strengthen electricity supply during periods of peak demand and system stress in the Sydney-Newcastle-Wollongong region.
Developer Akaysha Energy has received federal environmental clearance for its 400MW/1,600MWh Glenrowan battery energy storage system (BESS) in Victoria, with the project deemed “not a controlled action” under Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.
Australia has clawed back AU$1.3 billion (US$940 million) in uncommitted clean energy manufacturing funding, with the Solar Sunshot Program and Battery Breakthrough Initiative among the programmes hit by budget cuts announced this week.
Solar PV and wind are now the cheapest sources of power, with co-located hybrids increasingly delivering round-the-clock electricity at fossil fuel-competitive costs in high-resource regions, according to a new report by IRENA.
Utility-scale battery storage systems in Western Australia supplied 37.2% of peak demand on 9 May, marking one of the highest battery storage penetration levels recorded in an isolated grid globally.
