Australian renewable energy developer Genex Power has achieved financial close on what looks likely to be the country’s first new pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) plant in nearly 40 years.

California governor Gavin Newsom has tabled a revision to the US state’s budget which would put US$100 billion into economic recovery, including US$912 million to accelerate progress on climate change mitigation through the energy sector and US$3.2 billion for zero emissions vehicles support.

Industry group Scottish Renewables has warned that the UK’s climate change targets will not be met without the removal of barriers to long-duration energy storage such as pumped hydro.

A large-scale solar PV system paired with pumped hydro energy storage could cover as much as 25% of the Hawaiian island of Kaua’i’s energy demand, pushing the island’s total share of renewables in its energy mix past 80%.

A AU$20.3 million (US$15.36 million) project to demonstrate the capabilities of utility-scale vanadium flow battery storage in combination with solar PV has been announced in South Australia, with the Federal government helping to fund the project.

Greenko said that it will be helped along with plans to build multiple gigawatts of renewable energy plants alongside energy storage in India by an investment from Tokyo-headquartered ORIX Corporation.

A design consultancy service contract for a 1200MW pumped hydro energy storage project, paired with solar and wind energy and under development by independent power producer (IPP) Greenko has been awarded to AFRY India.

In the past couple of weeks, national and state government organisations in Australia have announced various stages of development for solar projects with a range of advanced and innovative storage solutions attached.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has approved A$6 million of funding for the country’s first compressed air energy storage (CAES) project.