Australia’s Renewable Energy Sector Sees Unprecedented Growth in 2024
Australia marked significant strides in renewable energy investments in 2024, achieving a remarkable milestone with new commitments for 4,346MW of renewable energy generation capacity. Energy storage also experienced substantial growth, with 4,029MW/11,348MWh of new projects receiving the green light. Notably, in Q4 alone, 870MW/1,936MWh of new energy storage investments were made.
The Clean Energy Council (CEC) reported that the largest project approved in the last quarter was Lightsource bp’s 450MW Goulburn River solar-plus-storage plant in New South Wales. Receiving AU$880 million in investment, the plant commenced construction on December 16, following government approval in October. The project is expected to be operational by the end of 2026, featuring a 49MW/392MWh battery energy storage system (BESS).
The Goulburn River project was among several successful bids in the Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS), which awarded 2.8GW of solar PV capacity. Following this, the Wambo Wind Farm in Queensland, with stages one and two totaling 506MW, stood out as the next largest project, having already begun construction before finalizing financial details in December.
Positive Investment Trends Continue in Australia
Kane Thornton, CEO of the Clean Energy Council, highlighted the consistent investment growth over two consecutive quarters in 2024, aligning with Australia’s goal of reaching 82% renewable energy by 2030. Thornton noted, “Clean energy already powers around half of our national energy needs. We have now seen two consecutive quarters of very healthy investment activity in 2024, which is the best we’ve seen since the investment highs of 2018.”
Solar PV led the projects reaching financial closure in Q4 2024. Key projects included Recurrent Energy’s 171MW Carwarp Energy Park in Victoria and Cleanpeak Energy’s 8MW Hay solar PV plant in New South Wales. Additionally, 88 renewable projects are either financially committed or under construction, totaling 13,187MW in capacity, while 52 energy storage projects are underway, equating to 10,531MW/26,285MWh.
Since 2017, 223 energy projects have been commissioned, resulting in 17,019MW of electricity generation and 2,112MW/3,669MWh of storage. New South Wales leads with 33 projects, followed by Victoria and Queensland with 29 each. Queensland boasts the largest capacity at 4,460MW, with New South Wales and Victoria following.
Thornton emphasized the importance of maintaining momentum, stating, “These results show that clean energy investment is getting back on track and it’s critical that we don’t lose focus or change direction now on a strategy that is working.”
Energy Storage Sees Significant Financial Commitments
Energy storage projects flourished in 2024, with Q4 witnessing commitments for 870MW/1,936MWh. The most substantial project was Lightsource bp’s 222MW/640MWh Woolooga BESS in Queensland, supplied by Chinese manufacturer Hithium Energy. This marks Hithium’s first Australian deployment of its 5MWh containerized BESS solution.
Additionally, battery recycling firm Livium has partnered with Hithium through its subsidiary Envirostream Australia. They will recycle lithium-ion batteries from the Woolooga site, which will also house a 214MW solar PV plant.
Four out of five projects committed in Q4 2024 integrate energy storage with other generation forms like solar or wind. The average combined capacity of these projects was 174MW/387MWh. Throughout 2024, 25 storage projects reached financial commitment, totaling 4,029MW/11,348MWh, slightly lower than 2023’s record figures. AU$3.9 billion was invested in these projects, with five battery storage projects beginning construction, totaling 867MW/2,475MWh.
Original Story at www.pv-tech.org