Environment and Water Resources Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Industry, Tourism and Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane yesterday announced the $17.6 million in funding, provided under the Advanced Electricity Storage Technologies (AEST) program.

Turnbull said more renewable energy could be used if electricity generated from renewable sources was available continuously, day and night, and that better ways of storing electricity when it is generated would help expand opportunities for its effective use.

“Demonstrating new renewable energy storage technologies in grid-connected and remote area power supply applications will give Australia a strong base on which to grow its own industry and expand opportunities overseas,” he said.

Macfarlane said the projects would help develop new ways of meeting Australia’s growing demand for electricity, while also helping to reduce the effects of the environmental problems such as climate change and air quality.

“The renewable energy industry understands the strategic importance of improving electricity storage technologies,” he said. “They are prepared to take action and the program will see a total of more than $36 million invested.”

The AEST program is part of the Australian Government’s more than $2 billion strategy to address climate change.

The five projects awarded funding under the AEST are:

Wizard Power (South Australia): $7.4 million to demonstrate a solar energy storage system based on ammonia dissociation into hydrogen and nitrogen. Four 400 square metre solar dishes will be installed near Whyalla to concentrate sunlight and provide the heat required to split ammonia into nitrogen and hydrogen for storage. When power is required, the gases are recombined, giving off heat to boil water and generate electricity through a steam turbine;

Lloyd Energy Systems (New South Wales): $5 million to demonstrate a solar energy storage system using graphite blocks. A high-concentration tower solar array will be installed at their factory site in Cooma and once proven, a 16-tower solar array system will be built at Lake Cargelligo in western NSW providing network support for this regional area;

ZBB Technologies (NSW): $3.1 million to demonstrate an integrated 500kWh zinc-bromine battery at CSIRO’s National Solar Energy Centre at Newcastle;

Pinnacle VRB (Western Australia): $1.8 million for demonstration of vanadium-redox batteries with photovoltaic solar panels and wind turbines at the remote fishing community of Windy Harbour; and

V-Fuel (NSW): $260,000 for demonstrating innovative vanadium-flow batteries with photovoltaic solar panels and a wind turbine on Cockatoo Island and the Environmental Research Institute for Art at Homebush in Sydney.

The Australian Government’s AEST program identifies and promotes strategically important, innovative, advanced energy storage technologies likely to increase the ability of renewable generation to contribute to the country’s electricity supply system.