The Queensland government confirmed yesterday (18 June) that Caloundra, Australia, will house a Local Renewable Energy Zone (LREZ), with plans to triple rooftop solar PV generation.

Energy-Storage.news Premium speaks with Warwick Johnston, founder of solar energy consultants Sunwiz, on Australia’s distributed battery storage market dynamics.

Australia runs a great risk of failing to meet its ambitious but achievable renewable energy goals, writes Stephanie Bashir, CEO of Nexa Advisory, who explains why utility-scale energy storage is among the crucial tools in the country’s energy transition toolkit.

Sunrun installed 258.2MW of new solar in Q3 2023, and saw a 131% year-on-year increase in energy storage installations.

An Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) programme to put AU$120 million (US$78.17 million) towards community battery storage received applications for more than ten times that amount.

Vietnam’s VinES Energy Solutions has partnered with SolarBK to promote the integration of battery storage with rooftop solar PV.

Premier of Queensland visited electrolyte factory, and the company building it has ordered a vanadium flow battery from Sumitomo Electric.

Battery storage can give the millions of Australian households going solar “a sense of empowerment and control”.

Utility Hawaiian Electric has finalised a plan to completely use renewable resources by 2045, including mid-term goals of adding renewables generation and rooftop solar by 2030.

BMW has partnered with a California utility to test out vehicle-to-X technologies, while fellow carmaker Volvo has invested in a bi-directional charging solutions provider.