The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) confirmed last week (11 September) that the AUS$523 million Battery Breakthrough Initiative has opened a consultation into the scheme.

Bids for the South West Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) Access Rights in New South Wales (NSW), Australia have exceeded the targeted capacity by four times, while a 100MW solar-plus-storage project has been approved in the same state.

Acen Australia’s 600MW Birriwa solar-plus-storage project in New South Wales has been granted federal approval from Tanya Plibersek, Australia’s minister for the environment and water.

The Australian arm of Spain-based utility and IPP Iberdrola has started building a solar-plus-storage project with a 180MW/260MWh BESS in Queensland.

The Victoria government has opened a second round of its 100 Neighbourhood Batteries Program in Australia, which has been expanded to include energy backup systems.

Allegro Energy, an Australian-based developer of water-based redox flow battery energy storage solutions, has attracted AU$17.5 million (US$11.67 million) in Series A funding from investors including Origin Energy, Melt Ventures and Impact Ventures.

Construction has started at the 600MW/1,600MWh Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub (MREH), one of the largest energy storage projects in Victoria, Australia.

Six energy storage projects, totalling 3,626MWh of energy, have secured support via the Australian government’s Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS).

The Clean Energy Council (CEC) of Australia has revealed that six large-scale energy storage projects totalling 573MW/2,047MWh reached financial commitment in the second quarter of 2024.

AEMO has said that despite concerns about grid reliability in 2027-28, energy storage projects will help alleviate some of these concerns.