An Australian island will soon host the world’s first renewable energy microgrid that integrates wave energy, solar PV and energy storage technologies.
Conergy plans to build a 10.8MWac solar PV plant combined with 1.4MW/5.3MWh of lithium-ion battery storage near Lakeland, Australia.
Australian power company AGL is to install the largest ‘virtual power plant’ in the world in Adelaide, South Australia, using batteries from energy storage firm Sunverge Energy.
State-owned Australian utility Ausgrid is streamlining applications and cutting fees for consumers installing solar or battery storage systems.
Australia-based renewables firm Windlab and Japan’s Eurus energy have received development approval for a hybrid project comprising 20MW solar, 30MW wind and a 2MW lithium-ion battery storage system in Queensland, Australia.
The global grid-connected energy storage project pipeline is forecasted to hit 2GW this year; a 20% increase on the figures for the end of 2015, according to new analysis by IHS.
Morgan Stanley has predicted a boom in solar-plus-storage in Australia, calling PV a direct substitute for grid power and warning investors that the incumbent energy industry has been slow to react to trends.
DNV GL looks to update recommended practice guidelines for grid-connected energy storage systems, India toys with ‘National Storage Mission’ strategy, Juwi and KPS ally on solar, storage and diesel hybrids for remote Australian mines,
Work has been completed on Australia’s “largest solar and battery storage project to date”, a 10.6MW PV installation at a copper mine linked to 6MW of storage, according to developer Juwi, which along with its project partners shared some images of the site.
The rapid march of energy storage batteries into the energy system is one element of a wider market transformation that is “terrifying some players as much as it is thrilling others,” according to the new chair of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) Martijn Wilder.
