Australia’s National Energy Guarantee (NEG), which has been waived through for a final decision in August, would significantly harm the country’s large-scale renewables pipeline, with just 1.5GW expected to be completed by 2025 despite the current 16GW pipeline, according to the head of the country’s solar and storage council.

Australia’s chief scientist Dr Alan Finkel has recommended that after 2020, wind and solar projects should be required to pair with energy storage capacity or dispatchable generation plants to enhance the security of the power system.

In a major energy strategy upheaval, the South Australian government is providing significant funding to support energy storage projects, starting with a 100MW grid-connected battery that will be the largest in the country.

The Australian body in charge of promoting investment in renewables has criticised “heavy-handed” regulation of home energy storage systems in certain states.

State-owned Australian utility Ausgrid is streamlining applications and cutting fees for consumers installing solar or battery storage systems.

A new report from Australia identifying gaps in safety practices for energy storage technologies has recommended that improving knowledge of safety hazards and renovating standards is essential to the storage industry’s integrity and future growth.