Last year, with the completion of two new wind farms, Tasmania achieved the capability of producing 100% of its current electricity needs with renewable generation. However, as Tasmania and much of the world continues to transition from fossil fuels to renewables, electricity consumption is expected to surge. Energy usage will become electrified or replaced with renewable energy sources - for example, natural gas used in manufacturing will be replaced [...]

The north west of Tasmania is one of the best wind generation resources in the world. Several projects are currently being assessed in the Cradle Coast region.Jim's Plain is located on an undulating plateau about 23 kilometres west of Smithton. The site is dominated by coastal heath, but also has some pasture. Jim's Plain Renewable Energy Park, a project involving wind energy generation with possible solar generation and battery storage, [...]

The largest battery in Australia (which was until recently the largest in the world), the Hornsdale Power Reserve in South Australia, has been successful at preventing black outs from unexpected power disruptions. Since it was commissioned in late 2017, wholesale spot power prices have not again approached $10,000/ MWh - although in January this year they did exceed $5000/MWh. The battery system reacts quickly to network disruptions and can send [...]

The Tasmanian Energy Development Conference will be returning to Devonport in June, with in-person and digital attendance both available. Tasmania is home to Australia’s only 200% renewables target, the nation’s leading hydrogen industry development plan, and a plethora of energy industry projects of all scales. Further information including ticketing and sponsorship and exhibition opportunities can be found here

Late last year, crews were dropped at locations including Black Bluff and St Valentines Peak to take photographs to be used to produce to-scale, line of sight photo montages. The views of the montages were identified as priority views from TasNetworks' "Visual Impact and Assessment Feedback" and community and stakeholder engagement.Development of overhead transmission lines changes the landscape and impacts visual amenity. The extent of change and impact on views [...]

There is a lot that is still not understood about Tasmania’s Wedge-tailed Eagles. Threats to Wedge-tailed Eagles include loss of habitat (particularly nesting habitat) and mortalities from interacting with the human world – including their active removal by shooting, trapping or poisoning; collisions with powerlines, vehicles, fences and wind turbines; electrocution on powerlines; oiling, entanglement and pollution. At Cattle Hill Wind Farm in the Central Highlands, optical devices at [...]

The Clean Energy Council's annual Clean Energy Report has been released, covering the latest key figures and statistics on the national energy market.According to the report, "Australia’s clean energy transition accelerated again in 2020 as wind and rooftop solar set new records, battery storage came of age, and the hydrogen sector continued its rapid development.The industry passed a significant milestone in 2020, with more than a quarter of the country’s [...]

Australia’s original transmission infrastructure, built decades ago, was brilliantly simple. Major (mostly coal-fired) generators were connected to major load centers (such as large industrial manufacturers), and everyone else just plugged in along the way. The generator knew what it was generating, and the load center knew what it was consuming. If there was an interruption at either end, the generator and load center would work out what adjustments each should [...]

A few months ago, the Future Energy Hub compared the size of the proposed Lake Cethana pumped hydro energy storage project (PHES) to the size of Tesla Powerwall 2’s home-scale batteries. Feasibility work at Lake Cethana has now showed that the initial design option of 600MW and 11 hours can be scaled up to 750MW and up to 20 hours' deep storage duration - so it's time to update the [...]

Late last year, Lake Cethana was selected by Hydro Tasmania as the first potential site for pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) to take through to final design and approvals. Lake Cethana is part of the Mersey-Forth run-of-river catchment system, where water flows from rivers, cascading through a series of power stations, using the same water to generate energy multiple times. Environmental, social, geological and a range of other studies are [...]