Australian Capital Territory inviting Tesla Motors to research renewable energy
Canberra asks Tesla Motors to host research presence in ACT , ABC News 10 Oct 15 The ACT Government is pitching to one of the world’s leading renewable energy companies, asking it to consider establishing a research hub in Canberra. Chief Minister Andrew Barr last week sat down with executives at US giant Tesla Motors at the company’s headquarters in California.
Tesla are already selling electric cars in Australia – as well as developing new storage technology for renewable energy. Mr Barr wants the company to set up a research and development presence in Canberra, highlighting the city’s investment in renewables.
A spokesman for Mr Barr said it was a “productive meeting”, and a formal letter had been sent to the company. In the letter to Tesla management, Mr Barr said Canberra offered a “unique location advantage” for the renewable energy industry.
“The ACT has the most aggressive renewable energy and emissions reductions targets in the nation, by a significant margin, and amongst the most aggressive in the world,” he said. “Our region also includes a world-class expertise in renewable energy and energy storage technology research and development, across both public and private organisations.
“Employment in the ACT renewable energy sector grew over 400 per cent during the last five years.”
From next year, Tesla’s wall-mounted Powerwall batteries will be available in Australian homes.
The company will be utilising software from Canberra start up firm Reposit Power when Powerwall is launched, allowing solar panel owners to sell power back to the grid. Mr Barr used the Canberra-based company’s success was an example as to why Tesla should make further ties with the capital.
“I understand Reposit Power’s technology is unique and is an example of the innovative environment in Canberra,” he said……http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-10/canberra-launches-bid-to-tesla-motors-to-host-research-hub/6843812
Perth home entirely powered by solar energy shows the way
Perth gets first home powered almost totally by solar http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-08/first-perth-home-almost-totally-solar-powered/6835726 By Kathryn Diss A Hilton home has become the first in Perth to use the Sun to meet almost all of its power needs by storing the energy in batteries while still remaining 
connected to the power grid. (diagram at left not realistic!)
The home uses solar for 97 per cent of its power needs and also offloads excess supply onto the grid, in what could become a mainstream feature in the future.
Environmental scientist Josh Byrne built the home in Perth’s southern suburbs two years ago with a 10-star energy rating.
But despite having an energy efficient home solar panels on his roof, Mr Byrne was still paying power bills.
So, Curtin University’s Jemma Green proposed a battery storage trial at the home to try to further reduce his power bills. She had spent the past year researching and getting approvals for the project while seeking funding to pay for the batteries and her research. Continue reading
Study finds that storage for solar energy can replace gas in our electricity networks
Storage can replace gas in our electricity networks and boost renewables http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/storage-can-replace-gas-in-our-electricity-networks-and-boost-renewables-21141 By Dylan McConnell on 6 October 2015 (Good graphs on original)
Energy storage is often considered the holy grail of the electricity sector. Tesla’s Powerwall home battery system, for instance, allows households to store energy from solar panels, to be used when the sun isn’t shining. It is seen as a vital piece of the puzzle in a future with more renewable energy.
Storage is great for households, but could also be as important in the wider electricity network. Here’s how it could work. Continue reading
Australian govt to promote battery storage, through ARENA and CEFC
Coalition to accelerate battery storage in Australian households. http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/coalition-to-accelerate-battery-storage-in-australian-households-75760 By Giles Parkinson on 1 October 2015
Environment minister Greg Hunt says he wants the two institutions that have been brought within his department – the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) – to bring forward the widespread deployment of battery storage. “Australia has the highest rate of household solar in the world,” Hunt said in emailed comments toRenewEconomy. “This makes Australia an ideal place to develop storage and battery technology.”
Indeed, the battery storage market in Australia is widely tipped to take off in the next year. One of the triggers will be the arrival of the first Tesla Powerwall products in Australia in the next two months, although other international manufacturers such as Panasonic, LG, and Kokam already have products in the market.
Next week, Enphase will launch its “plug and play” battery storage product into Australia. Like Tesla, Enphase is targeting Australia because of the unique nature of its markets – high electricity prices driven by soaring grid costs, particularly to meet “peak” demand, the world’s biggest penetration of rooftop solar, and lots of sun. Continue reading
Tesla’s new Powerwall solar-energy batteries available in Australia this year
Australia among first countries to use Tesla’s new Powerwall solar-energy batteries, IBT, By Darwin Malicdem on September 21 2015 US firm Tesla has announced Australia would be one of the first countries in the world that it would provide with its new Powerwall solar energy batteries. The new 7kWH home energy storage units will be available in late 2015 coming ahead of the previous reports indicating its release date in 2016.
The Powerwall, launched in May, is designed for the interior wall of the house that can store energy from solar panels placed on the rooftop. The storage units work with lithium-ion battery to generate electricity created by the solar panels.
Tesla has already partnered with the Canberra-based firm, Reposit Power, to launch the Powerwall. The firm is working with different residents to directly buy and sell their stored electricity.
The Business Insider reported that there is a growing list of major utility and solar supply companies aiming to partner with Tesla to launch the Powerwall storage units in the country. The sustainable energy expert at the University of Sydney, Professor Anthony Vassallo, describes Tesla’s arrival significant for the renewable energy industry because of its high-profile products.
“The Tesla product isn’t unique by any stretch, but it’s the Apple brand of the battery storage industry, they have the sex appeal that others don’t,” he said. Australians already has a great solar resource, which “makes a lot of sense” of the availability of the Powerwall batteries to store the energy created by the solar panels, Vassallo added.
More than 1.3 million households in Australia already have solar panels on their rooftop, and the number is currently increasing rapidly because of the falling PV systems price. However, the Powerwall technology still needs improvement, Vassallo said…..
Vassallo said that the country could reach the 50 percent target if it will require “well-designed policies and markets that allow a transition from centralised, large-scale fossil fuels to efficient but variable renewables.” Storage is a key part to make the goal successful, he added.
Once the officials have managed the capital cost of the renewable energy, Vassallo said, there would be no fuel cost. The availability of renewables would aid energy security where people “don’t get with fossil fuels.” http://www.ibtimes.com.au/australia-among-first-countries-use-teslas-new-powerwall-solar-energy-batteries-1468188
Tesla’s Powerwall battery for solar storage about to disrupt Australia’s energy market
Tesla’s Powerwall will give its first taste of disruption to Australia’s energy market, Guardian, 19 Sep 15 Giles Parkinson With plenty of sunshine for solar panels and unprepared network operators, fast-tracking Powerwall into Australia’s energy market is a savvy move.
The arrival of the Powerwall Tesla battery storage unit in Australia will herald the biggest challenge to Australia’s electricity industry for decades.
Tesla announced on Thursday that it is fast-tracking the roll-out of its battery storage product. Australia will be its first market for the 7kWh household units. The first deliveries had not been expected until well into 2017.
The Tesla Powerwall is not the first or even the cheapest battery storage maker to enter the Australian market but it is the most ubiquitous brand.
It threatens to do to incumbent business models what Uber is doing to the taxi industry, and Facebook, Twitter and Amazon did to traditional publishing.
Tesla is targeting the Australian market first because it is ripe for change. It has high electricity prices, excellent sun, lots of rooftop solar (more than 4,400MW on more than 1.4m homes). Its tariff structure should make it attractive for households and businesses to store their solar output in a box for use in the evening, rather than giving it away for next to nothing to the grid.
There are a range of predictions on how quickly battery storage will be adopted in Australia. Some suggest that the combination of a solar array and battery storage is already cheaper than grid power in some areas, others suggest it will be another five years before the combination is cheap enough to become a mass market.
But the promised benefits to consumers could be undermined because of a major turf war between the incumbent utilities whose business models are being threatened by the new technology, and because regulators are so slow to act. Continue reading
Australian electricity companies offer solar, battery technology for lease
Solar power for rent: Electricity companies offer solar, battery technology for lease http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-07/solar-power-for-rent-batteries-electricity/6679494 AM By Eric Tlozek Electricity companies have offered solar and battery systems for lease in a bid to keep customers and lower their own costs. Continue reading
Batteries about to change everything – off-grid or on grid electricity
With the world’s highest uptake of residential solar per capita, Australian demand for batteries that allow households to better match up the power generated from their rooftop panels with when they want to use it is primed to take off……..
Morgan Stanley estimates that 2.4 million east coast homes will have batteries installed within the next few years.
Instead of having to draw on peak-tariff electricity from the grid in the evenings, a household can then use stored energy, saving money and helping prevent the grid from overloading. Batteries also provide back-up power for computers, lighting and life-support systems that have to stay on during power cuts.
How battery-powered homes are unplugging Australia, SMH, August 1, 2015 Angela Macdonald-Smith Energy Reporter “……….While the much-hyped Powerwall home battery system from Californian electric car pioneer Tesla Motors won’t be available locally until 2016, lithium-ion batteries have been on offer to Australian homes and businesses for the last year or so.
High-tech, adaptable and controllable and typically the size of a small fridge, these systems have left clumsy and ugly lead acid batteries far behind.
Less than a week after the soft launch of the sleek Powerwall and larger Powerpack batteries in late April, Tesla was said to have sold out until mid-2016 after about $US800 million of orders for some 55,000 Powerwalls and 25,000 commercial units.
In Australia, the 1.4 million homes with rooftop solar panels are the battleground for battery providers and retailers.
Others, like Whiltsher, are starting from scratch, having batteries and rooftop solar fitted at the same time. Even for homes without solar PV panels, batteries could make economic sense down the track, many say. Continue reading
Energy storage revolutionising electricity – especially in off-grid solar
The next biggest potential market in Australia for energy storage – as a value proposition – would be the off-grid market, the report finds.
“Off-grid electricity is Australia’s most expensive electricity due to the underlying high gas and diesel prices in remote areas,” it notes.
“As such, the business case for renewables as a means to offset fuel use is strong. Similarly, in order to enable higher penetrations of renewables, energy storage can be utilised to manage the intermittent nature of wind or solar generation.”
Energy storage ‘megashift’ ahead, battery costs set to fall 60% by 2020, REneweconomy By Sophie Vorrath on 3 August 2015 [excellent graphs and tables] The key role energy storage will play in the electricity grids of the future – and the vital importance of investing in and testing the various emerging battery storage technologies – has been highlighted in a major report published by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency on Monday, which predicts a 40-60 per cent price plunge for certain battery technologies by 2020. Continue reading
South Australia the renewable energy leader- and now with battery storage!
Plans for Australia’s first non-hydro renewable storage project move forward http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/plans-for-australias-first-non-hydro-renewable-storage-project-move-forward-52911 By Giles Parkinson on 4 June 2015 The potential site for what will be the first large-scale, non-hydro storage project for renewable energy in Australia has identified three possible sites in South Australia, and received more than 40 different storage proposals and ideas. The project – known as Energy Storage for Commercial Renewable Integration South Australia (ESCRI-SA) – is a ground breaking project for Australia because it will be first and biggest of its type.
South Australia has already reached 40 per cent generation from variable renewable energy sources such as wind (33 per cent) and solar (7 per cent). It is one of the highest penetrations of variable renewables in modern industrial economies.
Up to now, that share of wind and solar has been relatively easily accommodated, but as this share grow, battery storage will be required as yet more coal-fired generators are retired, and even the need for gas plant diminishes.
The storage will be needed to soak up excess generation (such as wind at night-time or solar during the day) to be stored for use at peak time. It will also be used to provide ancillary services such as frequency – a critical component of the grid. In Germany, battery storage is being used for the same purpose.
Paul Ebert, from Worley Parsons who is leading the project lead funded by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and with support from AGL Energy, and transmission group ElectraNet says the storage is likely to be located in one of three locations – near Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula, near the Monash sub station on the Yorke Peninsula, or the Dalrymple sub-station in the river land area of the state. Continue reading
Australian electricity utilities to supply battery energy storage
Australian Utilities Cozy Up to Home Storage: ‘If We Don’t Respond, Someone Else Will’ Three Australian power companies are set to offer Panasonic’s residential battery systems. Greentech Grid Jason Deign June 5, 2015
Australian utilities are moving to combat the threat of revenue loss from residential energy storage by opting to supply batteries themselves. Three companies — Red Energy, Ergon Energy and ActewAGL — announced trials offering Panasonic battery systems.
“Our customers are already showing interest in this technology, and if we don’t respond to what our customers want, someone else will,” said ActewAGL CEO Michael Costello.
The Australian Capital Territory utility, which already has more than 15,000 residential installations in its catchment area, expects to start offering the systems this October.
“The trial will validate batteries as a product offering in the Canberra environment and evaluate the product functionality,” Costello said.
He confirmed ActewAGL had been working with Panasonic for two years “on how to make a trial of battery energy storage in Canberra a reality.”
Panasonic, which last year won the contract to supply Tesla’s Gigafactory in the U.S., is said to be keen on using utilities and retailers as a channel to the residential market, rather than selling direct to homeowners…….http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/australian-utilities-cozy-up-to-energy-storage
Renewable energy storage to be sold to Australia’s electricity utilities
Panasonic To Sell Energy Storage To Australian Utilities http://cleantechnica.com/2015/06/04/panasonic-sell-energy-storage-australian-utilities/June 4th, 2015 by Jake Richardson Panasonic will start to sell energy storage solutions to Australian power companies like Red Energy and ActewAGL this October, according to recent reports. Like Tesla’s energy storage products, built around Panasonic cells, they are lithium-ion batteries. Panasonic energy storage solutions will be available in New Zealand as well.
“Power companies in Australia are faced with dropping sales as the installation of solar panels expand and yet they still need to maintain the grids. We have been exploring ways to work together to benefit both users and retailers of electricity,” explained Katsufumi Miyamato, a Panasonic manager.
Australia reportedly has over one million homes with solar panels. It seems the adding of more solar panels has created much greater interest in energy storage, which is only natural. Additionally, having the ability to store electricity generated by solar panels for the times when sunlight isn’t available makes solar power much more attractive.
In fact, Kane Thornton, CEO of the Clean Energy Council estimated that there are about 1,000-2,000 battery storage systems currently in Australia. The largest power producer in Australia, AGL Energy Ltd., announced recently it would be offering a 6 kilowatt-hour battery storage system for homes sometime fairly soon. Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 