SAFT have said that they are now building the very first BESS in New Zealand. They want to do this in a way that improves the national grid security, and they also want to put a prime focus on renewable energy generation as well. At the end of the day, BESS are now in the very first stage of the project and this is going to include the general construction of energy in New Zealand. They are now working hard to try and make sure that the project meets all expectations, and they also have a contract which is going to help them acquire support for battery and power consumption. This is going to be installed and commissioned, alongside 20 years of operational services.

At the end of the day, this is scheduled to enter full use in the year 2024 and BESS is going to have a storage capacity of around 200MWh as well. This is going to be able to support local demand for 2 hours. If you look at SAFT then you will see that the asset is going to open up a lot of revenue streams for the company and they are going to make it easier to shift between price periods as well. They are going to reserve electricity for the market. Meridian have said that they expect BESS to deliver an annual revenue of around $35 million. The Meridian Energy Chief has said that he expects there to be a lot of increase in the years to come and that they also have a very bold vision overall. Only time will tell what the future holds but right now it is safe to say that things are looking very bright for the solar farm and the potential it has to offer.

Unit 3 of the power plant, Fangchenggang has now been hooked up to the grid for the very first time. CGN has announced that the unit, which is the first of two, has been scheduled to connect in the second half of the year 2023. The pressurised reactor has been synchronised with the grid and it has helped to make the unit generate electricity. The main reason why so much effort is being put into this development is that they want it to facilitate commercial operations with a high focus on efficiency. Concrete was poured for the island of the Unit 3 location and this helped to lay down the foundation. It is currently 39% owned by an investor, known as the Guangxi Investment Group. The remainder is owned by the CGN group. Unit 4 has now been poured and it was anticipated that Unit 3 would start up in the year 2019, with the next unit launching in 2020. Unfortunately, the pandemic happened and this meant that both had to be pushed back. They have now launched in 2022. CGN chose to make the announcement and they have said that the pandemic hit them hard and that Unit 4 is now set to launch in 2024. That being said, this could change again if things do not go to plan. The two groups have done what they can to try and make sure that the reactors are launched in a good time window but right now it looks like the delays have set everything back a bit. Even though one of them is now supplying energy, the other may need a bit more time but when they are both active this is going to mark a huge movement for the energy sector.

It has been announced that Shell Energy Australia are going to partner up and connect to the grid. They are going to do this through the Battery Energy Storage System. This is going to be built on the Wallerawang Power Station and this is going to be very close to New South Wales. In fact, it is going to be near Lithgow, which is a very convenient location to say the least. Shell have the plan to try and build, own and finally operate the battery and this is going to sit within the power station site. It has been reported that there once were two 500MW coal-firing generator units. These were decommissioned in the year 2014. The battery has been developed by the Green Spot company and this was once a privately owned group. Since then however they have worked to acquire and finally repurpose the property which is going to help move things away from the fossil fuel industry. Shell Energy are primarily responsible for the connection to the grid and it is their job to make sure that the battery is built and owned properly. They are going to first lease around 20 hectares of land and they are then going to expand this to 200 hectares. The main reason or this is because they believe it will help them to advance and it will also establish a hub for high-end industries in the business of tech. GreenSpot have obtained developmental approval and they have also done this through the BESS. This is going to connect with the Wallerawang Substation and in the past this has helped to facilitate coal transportation, which is then taken to the grid. At the end of the day, this is going to help provide major access to roads and rail transport. It is also going to help link the proposed water infrastructure as well which is a huge deal to say the least.

Intersect Power have now been able to reach a commercial operation in Riverside County. This is in California and it looks like a lot of good things are going to happen as a result of this. The one thing to know about the Athos III solar project is that it is going to generate a lot of energy and it could even power up to 94,000 homes. The project has been built by Union Labour and it has utilised batteries, solar panels and US-made steel pipes. It's said that it is going to meet the domestic content as well as wage requirements that have been set out too. Sheldon Kimber has come out to call this project a case study in general, as to how clean energy is going to be maximised.

Sheldon Kimber has been featured on a podcast recently, called Factor This! he went on to try and talk about the general impact of the tariff petition as well as talking about how there is a clear need for an industrial policy. He is also going to talk about the Inflation Reduction Act and how this is going to come into the project in general. This project is major to say the least and it looks like the rest of the portfolio is going to be active in 2023. The funding to help launch the project was actually secured as part of the broader portfolio and this is going to be well financed too. It's said that things such as tax equity and financial commitments are going to come into play but at the end of the day things are looking incredibly positive and this is going to be a major movement for the renewable energy industry. Make sure you follow this story if you want to know more.