Renewables and energy news that crossed Meralli’s desk recently…
Australia’s record surge in utility-scale battery energy storage projects
Solar and storage analyst Sunwiz said 2023 was the year of the big battery with a record number of large-scale battery energy storage systems featuring almost 1 GW / 1.5 GWh of combined capacity energised across Australia. The 2024 SunWiz Australian Battery Market Report shows that grid-scale battery energy storage projects with a record total capacity of 1,410 MWh were installed in Australia last year. Read more here. (PV Magazine)
Albanese flags tighter foreign investment rules
Major manufacturing and clean energy projects will be funded in the upcoming federal budget as Anthony Albanese flags a possible tightening of foreign investment rules. The prime minister unveiled the Future Made in Australia Act on Thursday, which would advance manufacturing and safeguard the nation’s control over resources and critical minerals. (Renew Economy)
Why some countries are aiming for ‘net-negative’ emissions
Germany recently became the first major economy to announce it intends to introduce a target to reach “net-negative” emissions later this century. While “net-zero” describes a state where a country’s emissions are balanced by the amount of greenhouse gases it can remove from the atmosphere, “net-negative” describes a state of removals exceeding emissions. In this article, Carbon Brief explores which countries are or have targets to be net-negative, plus the moral and scientific arguments for setting such a milestone. (Carbon Brief)
15 councils participate in SA emissions reduction trial
A South Australian trial is equipping councils with tools and resources to drive down emissions and compete for extra federal funding. Fifteen councils are participating in the Local Government Net Zero Program, officially launched in January following an expression of interest process last year. The program is designed to help them identify and report on emissions profiles, act on emissions reduction and establish their own emissions reduction strategies. Read more about the trial here. (Government News)
UNSW gets $6.3M funding boost for renewable energy and decarbonisation research
UNSW’s School of Chemical Engineering has secured a $6.3 million funding boost from the Australian government to propel research initiatives in renewable energy and decarbonisation. Under the Transformative Research Accelerating Commercialisation (TRAC) Program, led by Professor Yansong Shen and Scientia Professor Rose Amal, UNSW received $4.4 million and $1.9 million respectively from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). (Australian Manufacturing)
Our photo of the week (from the Meralli archives) was taken mid-build at our Wathagar Solar Farm, located in Moree NSW. Here you can see our state-of-the-art approach to construction and the PEG substructure.
