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State Govt offers grants for energy storage and stability

The State Government is seeking grant applications from projects which will increase the stability of South Australia’s energy grid, provide bulk energy storage and produce energy from waste.

Aug 28, 2017, updated Aug 28, 2017

The Government today opened the next round of applications for ts $150 million renewable technology fund – part of its plan to provide more reliability in the South Australian electricity system.

The Government is looking a three categories of projects: those that “firm” renewable energy generation by incorporating storage into “existing or pending wind or solar developments”; bulk energy storage such as pumped hyrdo, compressed air, thermal storage or “virtual” power plants; and bionergy (energy produced from agricultural waste or by-products).

Applications close on September 28, with applicants to be advised before summer.

Premier Jay Weatherill said some of the potential applicants had put in bids for other government energy projects, so he expected they would be interested in this round of the fund.

He said he was interested in emerging technologies which were “just behind” solar thermal and lithium ion batteries, both of which will be introduced in South Australia at a large scale.

“Everybody knows that the future lies in renewable energy,” he told a media conference today. “The big question was storage. Storage is now here and is capable of being unlocked.”

Weatherill rejected suggestions that the fact that he was seeking “firming” services meant that the Government had jumped into renewables too quickly.

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