Australia’s Clean Energy Council has signaled that Q1 2024 saw signs of recovery for the nation’s renewable energy generation sector but warned that investment levels must radically increase to achieve 2030 decarbonisation targets.

Construction has kicked off at the largest battery project in Australia to date, with a storage capacity equivalent to the entire country’s fleet of projects in construction at the end of 2022.

Rooftop solar and utility-scale energy storage growth led renewable energy to fulfil almost 40% of Australia’s electricity supply in 2023.

Financial commitments into utility-scale battery storage in Australia plummeted to just 13MW in Q3, although roughly ten times as much large-scale storage in megawatts have been commissioned so far this year compared to last.

More than AU$1 billion (US$0.65 billion) of financial commitments to large-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) projects were made in Australia in the second quarter of this year.

Nearly double the megawatt-hours of large-scale BESS under construction in Australia by the end of 2022 compared to 2021.

On-time commissioning for the 100MW/150MWh Wandoan South BESS came amid serious challenges.

A capacity mechanism for Australia’s National Electricity Market needs to catalyse investment in renewable energy and energy storage.

A boost for investment in battery energy storage in much of Australia is strongly expected to come from 1 October onwards, when new National Electricity Market (NEM) rules come into effect. 

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.